THE  SINLESS,  SICKLESS, 
DEATHLESS  LIFE 

FRANK    N.   RIALE 


Sfrnm  tl|p  ICtbraru  of 

Prnfraaor  S^n;amttt  IrfrktnriJige  Jiar6plb 

lpqupatl|pb  by  l|tttt  to 

tttp  ICtbrary  of 

Pnnrrton  S^lt^oliiijtral  S>pmtnary 


rLII^    f^?ank    N.    1859- 
The    sinless    sickless 
deathless    life 


^ky    du..    h.a/c^</^^''~ 


THE  SINLESS  SICKLESS 
DEATHLESS  LIFE: 

GOD'S  GLORY-GOAL  FOR  ALL 


7 

REV.  FRANK  N.  RIALE,  Ph.  D.,  D.  D. 


"A  man's  vision  shall  be  his  burden." 
"Where  there  is  no  open  vision,  the  people  perish. 


tL^u^^^^" 


NEW  YORK 

tER  &  COMPANY 

90  Bible  House 
1913 


Copyrighted  1913  by 
Frank  N.  Riale. 


To  my 
BELOVED  MOTHER 

this  volume 

is  most  lovingly 

dedicated 


CONTENTS. 


Foreword 

I.    The  Vision 

II.    Told  by  "The  Christ  of  God"    . 

III.  Seen  by  Artists  and  Seers 

IV.  Sought  by  Scientists  and 

Philosophers     .... 
V.    The  High  Water  Mark  of  Religion 
VI.    The  Holy  Communion   Realized 
VII.    The  Last  Race  Enemy  Ours 
VIII.    "Paradise  Regained" 

IX.    "The  Preaching  of  the  Cross" 
Clarified 

X.    The  Triumph  of  the  Trinity 


XI.    "In  the  Likeness  of  His  Resurrection"  156 


XII.    The  Return  of  the  Christ 

XIII.  The  Tap-Root  of  Sin  Removed 

XIV.  How  THE  Light  Came  and  the  Fire 

Fell 

XV.    The  Triumphant  Truth  Practically 

Applied 

XVI.    The  Summary  of  "God's  Perfect 
Whole" 


16 

42 

63 

79 

89 

97 

108 

124 
144 


171 

183 

197 
231 
243 


FOREWORD. 


Many  have  expressed  the  help  received 
from  reading  the  second  chapter  of  this  little 
volume,  which  appeared  in  print  under  the 
title  of  "The  Deathless  Life,"  as  God's  design 
for  all. 

Repeated  requests  for  more  have  called 
forth  a  number  of  articles,  which  have  had 
as  their  common  thought- thread,  "The  Sin- 
less, Sickless,  Deathless  Life — God's  Glory- 
Goal  for  All."  All  save  the  chapter  referred 
to  have  been  entirely  recast  and  rewritten,  to 
bring  out  more  clearly  the  unfolding  of  the 
theme,  as  the  crowning  purpose  of  "God's 
Perfect  Whole." 

Inasmuch  as  these  papers  were  written  for 
independent  use,  a  number  of  repetitions  will 
be  found.  These,  however,  are  not  enough 
perhaps  to  mar  the  message,  the  central 
theme  of  which,  at  this  hour,  is  burning  on 
the  altars  of  men's  hearts  everywhere,  like  a 
holy  fire. 

The  119th  Psalm  is  but  a  kaleidescopic 
tumbling,  as  most  know,  of  the  simple  truth 
which  is  the  germ  and  genius  of  the  whole 


Foreword 

Old  Testament — viz.,  the  law  of  the  Lord 
is  the  highway  of  holiness.  Eight  times  as 
many  times,  in  this  sacred  song,  is  the  truth 
told,  as  there  are  letters  in  the  Hebrew  alpha- 
bet. This  made  it  appear  to  the  people  as 
the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  all  God's  redemptive 
revelation  to  the  "chosen  folks."  Indeed  the 
message  seemed  to  them  even  more,  as  their 
telling  it  in  series  of  octaves  would  show. 
This  octave  grouping  over  the  whole  key- 
board of  the  alphabet  was  to  them  like  the 
sweeping  of  the  hand  of  God  over  every 
string  of  the  great  harp  of  life,  making  it 
give  forth  the  whole  of  its  heavenly  re- 
demptive music. 

So  this  little  message  of  "The  Sinless, 
Sickless  and  Deathless  Life,  as  the  Glory- 
Goal  of  God  for  All,"  is  but  a  kaleidescopic 
putting  of  the  one  simple  sublime  truth 
which  was  the  key  and  core  of  the  whole 
message  of  the  universal  redemption,  as 
Jesus  the  redeemer  of  all  mankind,  by  his 
deathless  precept  and  practice,  has  ever  pro- 
claimed it. 

He  has  declared  it  is  the  divine  design 
for  all.  He  has  shown  that  it  is  the  pearl 
of  great  price,  for  which  when  men  once  feel 
that  they  can  truly  have,  they  will  gladly  sell 


Foreword 

all  and  buy.  The  call  of  heaven  is  to  the 
whole  wide  world  to  take  by  faith  this  gift 
of  God,  and  enter  into  the  fullness  of  our 
priceless  heavenly  inheritance.  He  whose 
very  name  is  "music  to  our  ears,"  has 
touched  the  heart  of  humanity,  which  is  "the 
harp  of  a  thousand  strings,"  and  made  it 
send  forth  this  music,  which  all  the  world 
feels  is  the  "lost  chord"  in  the  halleluiah  re- 
demptive music  for  the  full  and  free  salva- 
tion of  all  sick,  sinning  and  death-struck 
souls. 

Altho  the  message  may  at  first  seem  some- 
what iconoclastic,  it  is  believed  that  in  the 
end  it  will  only  reveal  a  larger  and  holier 
life  symphony  and  life  synthesis.  It  de- 
stroys nothing  that  is  vital  in  any  of  the 
great  Creeds  of  Christendom,  but  fulfills 
most   wonderfully   the   best   that  is   in   all. 

The  thought  that  has  ever  been  uppermost 
in  the  mind  of  the  writer  can  be  no  better 
expressed  than  in  the  little  prayer  put  up 
by  James  Freeman  Clarke,  when  he  was 
about  to  write,  as  the  Lowell  Lectures,  the 
second  part  of  his  "Ten  Great  Religions  of 
the  World." 

"May  I  be  helped  to  put  out  of  my  heart 
any  wish  but  this,  that  the  truth  of  God  and 


Foreword 

the  good  of  men  may  be  served  by  them. 
May  I  be  led  by  the  Spirit  to  say  the  best 
and  most  needed  things — whatever  may  con- 
firm love  to  God  and  men.  May  I  rely  on 
the  promise  of  my  Master  and  Friend  to  give 
of  this  Spirit  to  lead  us  into  all  Truth,  even 
unto  the  end." 

To  the  writer  the  thoughts  of  the  chapters 
are  like  "My  Rosary."  If  they  become  any- 
thing like  this  to  others;  if  they  help  to 
make  life  a  holy  creed  of  heavenly  deeds,  he 
shall  rejoice  that  the  good  seed  of  the  King- 
dom has  fallen  upon  the  good  soil  of  souls, 
ready  to  bring  forth  abundantly  of  the  heav- 
enly harvest  of  which  Jesus  was  the  "first 
fruits"  in  the  garnering  of  God,  "where  the 
reapers  are  the  angels,"  and  the  final  har- 
vesting "the  end  of  the  world." 


I. 

THE  VISION. 


"An  arrow  is  in  the  heart  of  death." 

— Alfred  Noyse. 
"Whosoever   liveth   and   believeth   in   me, 
shalll  never  die.      Believest  thou  this?" 

—John  XI:26. 

"These  are  the  wonderful  words   which 

Jesus  the  living  Lord  spake :   Every  one  that 

harkens  to  these  words  shall  never  taste  of 

death." — Neiv  Sayings  of  Jesus. 

"Death  will  be  no  longer,  in  the 
Glare  of  the  deathless  fire." 

— Tennyson. 

"The  whole  purpose  of  the  Bible  is  to  tell 
us  most  emphatically,  that  death  is  not  the 
will  of  God." — Judge  Tr'oium'd  (Edinburgh 
Lectures,  1910.) 


There  has  been  no  people  or  kindred  or 
tribe  that  has  not  longed  for  the  redemption 
of  the  body  as  truly  as  the  redemption  of 
the  soul.     In  some  the  hope  has  burned  dim ; 

9 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

but  in  none  has  it  ever  been  entirely  ex- 
tinguished. In  some  the  truth  has  shown 
forth  so  brightly  as  to  make  one  feel  they 
had  almost  caught  the  glimpse  of  the  great 
consummation  glory,  as  it  burned  undimmed 
forever  in  the  life  and  light  of  Jesus. 
Egypt,  the  oldest  of  the  world's  civiliza- 
tions, believed  most  intensely  in  this.  "It 
must  be  so,"  else  why  this  longing  for  the 
preservation  of  the  bodies  of  their  dead. 
The  sayings  of  their  Sacred  Writings  tell 
most  clearly  that  these  bodies  are  not  made 
to  die.  The  writings  around  the  walls  of  the 
resting  places  of  the  departed,  and  the  joy 
which  they  had  in  tarrying,  as  in  sweet  con- 
course with  those  who  had  gone  on  before, 
tell  that  they  were  constantly  living  in  great 
expectations  that  these  bodies  would  again 
be  the  abode  of  the  spirits  of  the  departed, 
and  be  finally  glorified. 

Christendom  alone  has  found  the  climax 
and  key  to  this  universal  heart  longing,  for 
it  alone  has  brought  forth  the  substantial 
reality  of  this  holy  quest,  and  proclaimed  it 
as  the  gift  of  God  to  all  people  forevermore. 
Christ  came  to  save  the  ivhole  man.  In  him 
the  great  longing  for  the  redemption  of  the 
body  is  fulfilled.      The  great  conviction,  "I 

10 


The  Vision 

believe  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body,"  is 
coupled  with  the  conviction,  "and  in  life 
everlasting,"  as  the  closing  of  the  church's 
universal  and  most  hallowed  creed.  The 
heart-wrenching  sorrow  at  the  tomb  is  the 
world-wide  protest  of  the  race,  that  man 
was  not  made  to  go  forth  in  his  full  glory  to 
God  by  the  dark  way  of  the  grave.  Man  was 
not  made  to  die.  We  were  not  made  to  be 
"unclothed"  but  to  be  "clothed  upon"  with 
the  glory  that  cometh  down  from  on  high. 
Paul,  the  great  formulator  of  the  message 
of  the  Messiah  forever,  felt  this  most  pro- 
foundly. His  great  longing  was  for  the  re- 
demption of  our  bodies,  the  temples  of  the 
Spirit  of  the  Most  High.  In  his  eyes,  things 
would  not  come  forth  as  they  were  meant 
to  be,  till  our  faith  would  makes  us  rise  to 
the  mighty  fact  that  "we  should  not  all 
sleep,"  but  be  "changed  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye."  He  believed  most  firmly  that  "this 
mortal  should  put  on  immortality,"  and  the 
day  would  come  when  we  should  "be  caught 
up  to  be  forever  with  the  Lord."  The 
sloughing  off  of  the  body  and  the  consigning 
it  to  the  tomb,  "earth  to  earth,  ashes  to 
ashes  and  dust  to  dust,"  was  to  him  but  a 
travesty  of  the  great  truth  of  God's  redemp- 

11 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

tive  purpose.  It  is  only  because  we  have 
seen  the  Redeemer  and  his  great  world-plan 
"through  a  glass  darkly,"  that  this  tragic 
thiumph  of  the  last  great  enemy  of  the  race 
is  to  be  met  with  everywhere.  The  call  of 
God  is  into  a  life  of  faith,  in  which  death 
is  downed  and  doomed  forever.  This  fact 
will  never  he  accomplished  till  first  tve  have 
faith  enough  to  believe  and  "the  will  to  be- 
lieve" this  is  the  Eternal's  final,  full  and 
universal  purpose  in  the  perfect  order  of 
the  world. 

We  could  not  write  a  line,  or  walk  a  step, 
or  perform  a  single  deed,  unless  we  first 
had  faith  we  could.  Stepping  out  in  this 
confidence  we  find  we  have  power  to  bring 
about  the  very  things  we  hoped  for  and  felt 
we  had  the  power  actually  to  do.  So  it  is 
in  this  great  final  triumph  of  the  race,  the 
victory  over  death,  the  last  enemy  that  Christ 
met  by  his  faith  and  forever  vanquished. 
When  we  believe  that  the  redemption  of  the 
body  and  the  deathless  life  is  the  will  of  God 
for  every  one  of  us — and  ever  act  as  tho  we 
thus  believed — we  will  meet  death  in  holy 
victory  and  stand  with  Jesus  victorious  over 
the  foe  that  never  knew  a  failure,  and  find 
that  "death  and  hell  will   be  beneath  our 

12 


The  Vision 

feet"  as  triumphantly  as  they  were  beneath 
the  feet  of  our  all-conquering  Lord.  Be- 
lieving thus  we  will  step  out  with  a  most 
holy  boldness,  and  meet  the  Goliath  that  has 
taunted  and  terrified  the  ages,  and  find  the 
dread  destroyer  fall  forever  by  the  sling  of 
faith  that  hurls  this  confidence,  which  is  in- 
stilled into  the  heart  by  the  everlasting  vic- 
tory of  Jesus,  with  whom  we  are  joint  heirs 
in  the  inheritance  of  all  the  power  and  pur- 
pose of  God.  Then  will  we  be  able  to  join 
rejoicing  in  the  great  victory  song,  "Oh, 
death,  where  is  thy  sting,  oh,  grave,  where 
is  thy  victory?"  This  faith,  which  the  world 
may  call  a  most  fanatical  faith,  is  to  be  the 
forerunner  of  this  fact  of  facts,  that  the 
whole  world  is  longing  for  to  bring  forth  its 
universal  and  full  deliverance. 

In  the  days  of  the  great  theologians  in  the 
fourth  century,  Athanasius  of  Alexandria 
stood  forth  supreme,  as  he  brooked  by  his 
larger  faith  the  whole  wide  world.  From 
this  heroic  defiance  was  born  the  great 
proverb  of  "Athanasius  against  the  world." 
Greater  days  than  those  of  the  framers  of 
the  Athanasian  creed  are  upon  us.  We  are 
to  make  a  greater  stand  by  far  against  the 
belief  of   ages,   and   the   world's   universal 

13 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

thinking.  It  is  to  believe  that  death  to  man 
ivas  never  mearit  to  be,  and  will  no  longer 
be  when  one  has  faith  in  his  heart  to  believe 
that  it  is  downed  forever  in  the  full  surren- 
der of  life  to  the  unfolding  of  the  indwelling 
Spirit,  which  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Christ,  the 
Spirit  of  the  everlasting  Truth  that  filleth 
all  and  all.  Here  all  heaven  by  its  call,  and 
all  earth  in  its  longing  is  asking  us  to  take 
our  stand  fully  and  forever.  Faith  in  this 
mighty  fact  will  be  the  victory  that  will  en- 
able us  to  overcome  the  death  penalty,  and 
make  us  usher  in  the  final  full  day  of  the 
whole  race  redemption,  when  the  whole  man 
will  be  saved;  and  in  this  liberty  of  the 
Spirit  there  will  be  a  redeemed  body  as  well 
as  a  sin-cleansed  heart.  Then  there  will  be 
a  new  body  as  well  as  a  new  heart  in  the  new 
heaven  and  the  new  earth  to  be  found  every- 
where about.  Then  the  great  mission  of 
the  universal  redemption  will  have  been  ac- 
complished, and  the  travail  of  the  Redeem- 
er's soul  shall  have  been  satisfied,  when  we 
have  thus  fully  awakened  into  his  perfect 
likeness. 

God  does  not  wish  to  leave  these  souls  of 
ours  in  Hades;  or  these  bodies  of  ours  "to 
see  corruption."      He  came  to  redeem  our 

14 


The  Vision 

bodies  as  truly  as  to  "make  clean  our  hearts." 
Happy  will  be  the  day  when  we  shall  by 
faith  see  this  consummation  toward  which 
the  whole  creation  moves ;  and  line  up  in  life 
vision  with  him  who  is  "the  great  captain 
of  our  salvation,"  in  bringing  this  last  great 
victory  in  the  Armageddon  conflict,  for  the 
full  divine  redemption  of  the  race.  Then 
we  will  see  that  "the  chief  end  of  man,  that 
he  may  glorify  God  and  enjoy  him  forever," 
is  to  believe  that  the  sinless,  sickless,  death- 
less life  is  as  much  God's  perfect  purpose 
for  us,  as  it  was  declared  and  demonstrated 
as  his  great  life  purpose  in  Jesus. 


IS 


II. 

TOLD  BY  THE  "CHRIST  OF  GOD." 

Coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before 
them. 

The  one  great  glory  goal,  toward  which 
the  whole  creation  moves  is  the  coming  of 
that  kingdom  of  heaven  and  of  God,  that 
wonderful  reign  of  love,  when  men  shall 
love  the  Lord  their  God  with  all  their  mind 
and  soul  and  strength  and  their  neighbor  as 
themselves.  The  great  foregleam  of  this 
glorious,  divine  time  was  flashed  forth  in 
Jesus,  the  Messiah,  who  was  indeed  the  Light 
of  the  World,  from  whom  all  the  torch- 
bearers  of  Christendom  light  their  tapers  to 
make  them  lights  of  the  world  also.  Lives 
that  love  are  what  the  whole  creation  is 
groaning  and  trembling  to  bring  forth,  lives 
that  love  with  the  universal,  disinterested, 
altruistic  love  that  made  the  Incarnation  his- 
tory's most  holy  moment  and  Calvary  forever 
most  heavenly  sublime.  When  we  believe 
that  Jesus  is  God's  most  holy  purpose  for 
mankind,  "drawn  out  in  living  character" 
humanly  visualized;    when  we  believe  that 

16 


Told  by  "The  Christ  of  God" 

the  Spirit  which  raised  Christ  Jesus  from  the 
dead,  is  the  Spirit  of  life  that  abideth  in  us 
who  believe,  to  lift  us  also  into  Christ's  tri- 
umphs, we  are  born  into  a  new  world.  Led 
by  such  a  Spirit  we  also  become  most  truly 
sons  of  the  Most  High. 

When  this  Spirit  of  Truth  comes  to  abide 
in  the  life  forever  more  as  the  eternal  pilot 
that  will  bring  our  bark  in  safety  to  the 
docks  of  God,  where  He  piloted  Christ  the 
Lord  of  all,  a  whole  new  beauty  from  day  to 
day  begins  to  dawn  upon  the  soul.  Heavenly 
things  are  shown  which  the  world  feels  are 
utterly  incredible.  Such  would  most  surely 
be  the  case,  Jesus  said,  for  spiritual  things 
are  only  spiritually  discerned.  To  speak  of 
things  that  by  the  Spirit  you  absolutely 
know,  often  makes  the  world  feel  that  you 
are  beside  yourself,  that  "you  have  a  devil," 
and  that  your  spiritual  learning  has  made 
you  mad. 

God  has  ever  hid  these  things  from  the 
wise  and  prudent  and  revealed  them  unto 
babes.  For  some  mysterious  reason  such 
method  has  ever  seemed  good  in  the  divine 
eyes.  The  function  of  the  school  seems  to  be 
only  to  buttress  up  by  reason  and  practically 
apply  the  things  that  the  "open  vision" 
reveals. 

17 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

The  greatest  thing  which  the  Spirit 
through  Christ  thus  reveals  is  that  deathless 
life  is  the  diviyie  design  for  all.  God's  plain 
purpose  will  fail  in  this  sublime  realization 
only  when  we  resist  by  our  unbelief  this 
Spirit  of  life  that  is  striving  for  this  heav- 
enly mastery,  as  it  strove  in  the  heart  of  the 
Master  of  us  all.  It  is  surprising  how  this 
clear-cut  purpose  runs  as  a  heavenly  crypto- 
gram throughout  the  Gospels,  especially 
throughout  the  Gospel  of  John. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  the  whole  message  of  God  was  the 
bringing  of  life  and  immortality  to  light,  as 
shown  in  Jesus  and  to  be  reshown  in  every 
believer's  soul.  Jesus  was  the  Life  bring er 
and  the  Life  giver  of  the  race.  Led  by  his 
spirit  we  are  to  reckon  ourselves  dead  to  sin 
and  equally  dead  to  sickness  and  to  death. 
Indeed  the  latter  are  but  the  bitter  fruitage 
of  the   unbelieving  or  half  believing  soul. 

That  we  believe  we  have  passed  from 
death  unto  life  in  a  far  fuller  sense  than  is 
usually  thought  or  than  we  have  yet  realized, 
is  most  clearly  the  truth-trend  in  the  unfold- 
ing of  John's  message  of  our  Lord.  Here  it  is 
in  a  word.  In  John  6:58  are  these  pungent 
words :   "This  is  the  bread  which  came  down 

18 


Told  bu  "The  Christ  of  God" 

from  heaven;  not  as  your  fathers  ate  in  the 
wilderness  and  are  dead.  He  that  eateth  of 
this  bread  shall  live  forever;  for  the  bread 
which  I  give  I  give  for  the  life  of  the 
world."  The  contrast  seems  to  be  clearly 
between  those  who  died  in  the  wilderness, 
though  they  had  eaten  of  the  heavenly  manna 
and  those  who  are  to  eat  of  "the  true  bread 
of  heaven"  and  who  are  never  to  die. 

It  seems  clear  that  God's  purpose  for  his 
children  is  that  as  we  unfold  according  to 
the  divine  purpose,  there  should  not  be  a 
death  descent  into  the  grave,  but  a  divine 
ascent  into  glory.  It  is  that  we  should  be 
in  such  a  friendly  fellowship  with  God,  such 
a  daily  walk  and  talk  with  God,  that  life 
under  this  heavenly  companionship  should 
ripen  toward  that  holy  moment  when  the 
glory  that  was  about  us  in  our  infancy,  and 
which  "in  the  growing  child  hath  passed 
away"  should  return  and  be  with  us  in 
ever  increasing  grandeur  till  we  should  not 
see  death  but  be  caught  up  in  an  instant,  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  into  the  larger  glory 
that  awaiteth  those  who  are  to  be  "clothed 
upon  with  the  glory  of  their  house  which  is 
from  on  high."  Such  a  sudden  transition 
is  not  contrary  to,  but  rather  in  the  most  per- 

19 


The  Sinless,  SicJcless,  Deathless  Life 

feet  keeping  with  experience  and  progress 
that  is  seen  about  us  on  every  side. 
Suddenly  ice  passes  into  water,  as  a  certain 
temperature  is  reached;  and  the  water 
again  into  steam,  a  new  mode  of  mani- 
festation of  matter,  when  the  higher  tem- 
perature is  passed.  Suddenly  the  cata- 
pillar  passes  into  the  chrysalis,  and  even 
more  quickly  the  chrysalis  into  the  butterfly. 
Even  the  scientific  world  is  now  rapidly  com- 
suddenly  formed,  and  do  not  come  about 
ing  to  the  conviction  that  new  species  are 
after  long,  slow  and  gradual  changes  from  a 
change  of  invironment,  as  Darwin  believed 
and  made  the  bed-rock  of  his  "Origin  of 
Species,"  a  belief  accepted  by  practically  the 
whole  scientific  world  since  his  day.  De 
Vires  in  his  recent  message  on  "M2itation 
Theory,"  which  Prof.  Star  of  the  University 
of  Chicago  says  is  the  greatest  work  in 
years,  startles  the  whole  scientific  world  by 
saying  that  "new  species  are  formed  by  sud- 
den mutations,  by  spurts  or  leaps  or  bounds, 
the  cause  of  the  appearance  of  which  is  yet 
entirely  unknown."  All  of  this  truth  very 
deeply  impressed  John  Fiske  near  the  closing 
moments  of  his  life,  as  being  perhape  finger 
boards   pointing   to  the   sudden   glory   that 

20 


Told  by  "The  Christ  of  God'' 

awaits  man  in  the  moments  when  we  are  to 
be  caught  up  to  be  forever  with  the  Lord. 
It  must  be  so.  Life  in  its  unfolding  from 
glory  to  glory  surely  is  meant  to  pass  through 
sudden  transitions,  the  full  glory  of  which 
we  are  not  yet  at  all  aware  of.  Jesus,  the 
great  life  revealer,  is  trying  to  press  upon 
us  the  mightiest  and  most  matchless  and 
most  glory-giving  and  most  glorifying  tran- 
sition that  may  be  ours,  and  2vill  be  ours,  if 
we  only  walk  fully  in  heaven's  most  holy 
ways.  He  seems  to  say  to  us  that  to  live 
and  move  and  have  our  being  in  the  full  guid- 
ance of  the  Spirit  means  for  us  that  the 
moment  will  come  when  we  shall  not  finally 
be  downed  by  death  but  be  dead  to  death.  If 
we  follow  him,  we  shall  come  to  the  place 
where  that  awful  terror-moment  will  give 
way  to  the  most  glorious  triumph-moment; 
when  we  can  say  with  a  joy  unspeakable,  and 
with  far  more  meaning  than  we  have  here- 
tofore put  into  the  words,  "Oh  death,  where 
is  thy  sting.  Oh  grave,  where  is  now  thy 
victory?"  Dead  to  Death!  Alive  to  God! 
To  those  who  hear  this  truth  thus  boldly 
stated  today,  just  as  the  near  disciples  heard 
it  stated  by  their  Lord,  the  following  words 
of  the   sacred   narrative   seem   most   true: 

21 


The  Sinless,  SicJdess,  Deathless  Life 

"Many  therefore  of  his  disciples  when  they 
heard  this  said,  This  is  a  hard  saying.  Who 
can  hear  it."  But  Jesus,  knowing  the  weak- 
ness of  their  hearts  to  grasp  a  vision  so 
glorious,  a  vision  when  held  up  as  undown- 
able  evidence  seemingly  so  contrary  to  all  the 
experience  of  the  ages,  said:  "Does  this 
cause  you  to  stumble?  What  then  if  you 
should  see  the  son  of  man  ascending  where 
he  was  before?"  It  is  as  though  he  had 
said.  Would  you  then  believe  that  this  is 
God's  glorious  purpose  as  life's  heavenly  exit 
for  us  all?  But  even  this  could  not  make 
Christ's  hearers  break  with  the  universal 
pre-conception  of  death's  doom  for  the  body, 
and  that  it  is  the  door  of  exit  for  us  all. 
"Upon  this  many  of  the  disciples  went  back 
and  walked  no  more  with  him;"  till  Christ 
with  heart  almost  broken  most  pathetically 
says  to  the  Twelve:  "And  will  you  go  away 
also,"  under  this  message  of  the  Messiah, 
that  is  God's  full,  final  and  most  glorious 
universal  message  for  the  world? 

In  the  record  as  given  in  John  8:51,  Jesus 
again  brings  the  great  truth  before  them, 
that  there  might  break  into  their  hearts  the 
heavenly  enlightenment.  Now  the  message 
is  very  bold ;   "Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you, 

22 


Told  by  "The  Christ  of  God" 

if  a  man  keep  my  words,  he  shall  never  see 
death."  Then  came  as  a  reply  from  the 
leaders  of  the  people  what  seemed  to  them 
the  only  possible  answer  and  the  truly  im- 
downable  argument:  "Now  we  know  thou 
hast  a  demon.  Abraham,  the  father  of  the 
faithful,  died ;  and  the  prophets,  the  best 
men  God  ever  sent,  died ;  and  thou  sayest  if 
a  man  keep  my  \vords  he  shall  never  see 
death.  Art  thou  greater  than  Abraham  who 
is  dead,  and  the  prophets,  who  died  also?" 
Yes,  he  ivas.  And  because  he  was,  he  was 
to  demonstrate  most  divinely  in  his  own  per- 
son later  that  he  could  not  only  slip  out  of 
this  life  into  the  larger  life  eternal,  as  did 
Enoch ;  or  be  carried  to  the  skies  in  a  chariot 
of  fire  as  was  Elijah ;  but  he  could  do  more. 
He  could  and  v/ould  even  put  himself  into  the 
very  hands  of  death,  and  show  its  utter 
powerlessness  to  hold  either  in  body  or  spirit 
a  life  that  believes  that  the  sinless,  disease- 
less  and  deathless  life  is  God's  eternal  and 
crowning  purpose  for  Ihe  race;  a  life  that 
the  whole  creation  is  groaning  and  trembling 
to  bring  forth  as  the  final  full  creed  of 
Christendom,  as  its  Easter  Hallelujah  music. 
Christ  did  not  die  to  show  that  the  way  he 
went  was  the  way  all  should  go.      It  was  to 

23 


The  Sinless,  SicJcless,  Deathless  Life 

show  that  he  was  dead  to  death  as  truly  as 
to  sin,  and  that  he  defied  death  as  he  did  sin, 
and  that  he  is  calling  his  followers  up  into 
that  holy  confidence  and  heavenly  defiance 
also.  He  was  going  to  say  to  this  last  great 
enemy  of  the  race  before  whom  all  men 
thought  they  must  fall,  "Thou  art  forever 
powerless."  Here  are  his  all-loving  and  all- 
comprehensive  words  as  to  the  place  of  his 
own  death  in  the  plan  for  the  final  full  sal- 
vation of  the  race : 

"Therefore  doth  the  Father  love  me  be- 
cause I  lay  dov/n  my  life,  that  I  may  take  it 
again.  No  man  taketh  it  from  me.  I  lay 
it  down  of  myself.  I  have  power  to  lay  it 
down,  I  have  power  to  take  it  again.  This 
commandment  I  received  of  my  father." 

God  gave  no  commandment  to  Jesus  that- 
he  did  not  give  to  every  disciple.  It  is  God's 
command  also  for  us  all.  If  we  ever  go 
home  by  the  way  of  the  tomb,  it  is  because 
we  will  not  go  by  Jesus'  more  glorious  way. 
God  is  waiting  to  have  his  children  believe 
that  he  is  willing  and  ready  to  glorify  him- 
self in  his  children,  so  that  they  will  not 
have  to  go  by  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death  to  glory ;  but  by  the  glorious  highway 
of  the  Spirit  that  Jesus  took  in  the  great 

24 


Told  by  "The  Christ  of  God" 

ascension,  the  exit  of  the  final  and  fullest 
triumph.  Even  our  most  conservative  theo- 
logians feel  that  death  has  no  place  in  th€ 
working  out  of  the  purposed  plan  of  God  for 
mankind.  Luther,  in  the  most  inspiring 
passage  of  his  great  "Commentary  on  Gala- 
tians,"  which  John  Bunyan  read  constantly 
in  Bedford  jail,  and  John  Wesley  said  was 
the  one  great  book  that  fired  him  with  his 
flaming  zeal  for  God,  says:  "God  does  not 
want  to  destroy  our  bodies,  but  glo7'ify  them. 
Death  has  no  place  in  the  plan  of  God  for 
man ;  and  we  should  reckon  ourselves  as  dead 
to  death  as  to  sin,  the  source  of  the  dark, 
dread  destroyer  of  mankind." 

Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon,  one  of  the  most  saintly, 
yet  all-round  Christ-filled  men  that  the  cen- 
tury just  past  gave  us,  puts  the  vision  thus: 

"There  is  a  false  and  widespread  error 
in  regard  to  the  relation  of  our  bodies  to  the 
redemption  of  Christ.  It  is  taken  for 
granted  by  many  that  this  house  of  clay  was 
never  intended  either  to  be  repaired  or 
beautified  by  the  renewing  Spirit.  The 
caged-eagle  theory  of  man's  existence  is 
widely  prevalent — the  notion  that  the  soul  is 
imprisoned  in  the  flesh,  and  is  beating  its 
bars  in  eager  longing  to  fly  away  and  be  at 
rest — all  of  which  may  be  very  good  poetry, 
but  is  very  bad   divinity.      The   Scripture 

25 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

teaches  indeed  that  we  who  are  in  this  tab- 
ernacle do  groan,  being  burdened:  but  it 
does  not  therefore  thrust  death's  writ  of 
ejection  into  our  hands  as  our  great  consola- 
tion, and  tell  us  that  our  highest  felicity  con- 
sists in  moving  out  of  this  house  as  quickly 
as  possible.  'Not  for  that  we  would  be  un- 
clothed but  clothed  upon,  that  mortality 
might  be  swallowed  up  of  life,'  is  the  in- 
spired testimony  concerning  the  highest  hope 
of  existence.  The  redemption  of  the  body, 
not  the  dissolution;  resurrection,  not  death, 
is  set  before  us  in  the  gospel  as  the  goal  of 
victory.  But  because  that  great  promise  of 
the  gospel  'who  shall  fashion  anew  the  body 
of  our  humiliation  that  it  may  be  conformed 
to  the  body  of  his  glory,'  has  been  so  largely 
supplanted  by  the  notion  of  a  spiritual  elimi- 
nation taking  place  at  death,  in  which  a 
purified  soul  is  forever  freed  from  a  cum- 
bering body,  all  this  has  been  changed  in 
the  dread  of  many.  The  heresy  of  death- 
worship  has  supplanted  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  with  a  multitude  of  Christians." 
Prof.  James  Orr,  Scotland's  foremost  the- 
ologian today,  in  his  "God's  Image  in  Man," 
says: 

"There  is  nothing  perhaps,  in  which  the 
'modern'  view  of  the  world  is  clearer,  or 
assertion  is  more  confident  than  on  the  uni- 
versal reign  of  death  over  all  creatures,  man 
included.  The  idea  that  physical  death  is 
not  a  part  of  man's  natural  lot,  but  has  en- 

26 


Told  by  "The  Christ  of  God" 

tered  the  world  through  sin,  is  scouted  at 
as  an  absurdity.  .  .  .  But  I  would  ask 
seriously,  is  it  so?  The  body  in  the  case  of 
man  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  the  old  phi- 
losophers thought  it,  as  a  natural  prison 
house,  from  which  he  should  be  glad  to  es- 
cape in  death.  It  is  a  part  of  himself — an 
integral  part  of  his  total  personality.  It 
follows  then  that  death  to  him  is  not  a 
natural  process  but  something  altogether  un- 
natural— the  violent  separation  of  two  parts 
of  his  being  which  God  never  meant  to  be 
separated — a  rupture,  a  mutilation,  a  rend- 
ing asunder,  of  his  personality.  .  .  Even 
Weisemann  the  biologist  says  'the  origin  of 
death  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  in 
the  whole  range  of  biology,'  and  it  seems  that 
life  should  come  that  would  not  die  at  all. 
I  resist  the  conclusion  that  death  is  the 
normal  lot  of  man ;  and  can  find  only  a 
clear  and  consistent  position  of  life,  on  the 
hypothesis  that  it  is  not." 

The  great  throng  of  the  patriarchs,  mar- 
tyrs and  prophets  pictured  so  wondrously  in 
the  eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews  also  saw  this 
truth  "afar  off,"  and  "died  in  hope  not  yet 
having  received  the  promise."  But  the  day 
is  dawning  fast  when  there  is  coming  into 
the  hearts  of  men  the  great  conviction  that 
the  reaper  of  our  lives,  as  planned  in  the 
purposes  of  God,  is  not  to  be  "death  with 
its  sickle  keen."     The  reapers  are  the  angels, 

27 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

sent  to  bear  us  into  the  life  transcendent. 
To  believe  this  may  seem  like  standing 
alone  against  the  world.  It  is  one  against 
most  of  the  saints  and  the  seers  and  the 
scientists  of  the  past,  and  one  against  all 
throng  of  the  thoughtless.  But  it  is  one 
with  Christ  and  that  is  one  on  the  side 
of  the  heavenly  majority.  He  who  is 
anxious  to  be  with  the  crowd  will  not 
take  his  stand  here  with  Jesus.  Are  we 
on  the  side  of  Christ,  or  with  the  jeering 
throng  of  the  deniers  who  cry  out  with  the 
great  rabble  who  rebel :  *'We  know  that  God 
spake  through  Moses,  this  fellow  we  know 
not  what  he  says"? 

A  little  later  on  Jesus  again  took  up  the 
great  theme  that  is  some  time  to  thrill  the 
world,  which  was  the  fiual  message  of  the 
glad  tidings  for  all.  This  time  it  was  more 
in  the  concrete  and  so  clear  that  it  seems 
one  who  is  "a  fool  and  slow  of  heart"  should 
catch  the  truth  of  truths  which  the  race 
some  time  will  catch  with  a  joy  unsurpassed 
and  a  boundless  gratitude.  It  was  at  the 
tomb-side  of  Lazarus.  The  incident  is  given 
in  John  11.  Oh,  the  wondrous  words! 
"I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life.  He  that 
believeth  on  me,  though  he  were  dead  yet 

28 


Told  by  "The  Christ  of  God" 

shall  he  live;  and  whosoever  liveth  and  be- 
lieveth  on  me  shall  never  die.  Believest  thou 
this?"  Four  days  had  his  friend  Lazarus 
been  dead.  Three  days,  all  the  world  half 
blindly  believed,  the  spirit  of  the  departed 
hovers  round  the  body,  as  though  struggling 
to  come  back  again  and  fill  it  with  a  life 
glorious.  This  traditional  waiting  time  had 
passed.  Four  days  had  gone  since  the  death 
moment,  and  all  was  forever  hopeless.  But 
He  whose  belief  was  so  undownable  that  a 
life  hid  in  the  heart  of  God  is  deathless,  was 
to  give  the  holy  evidence  that  such  a  belief 
was  never  groundless.  He  was  to  show  that 
death  would  have  no  permanent  power  over 
another,  if  one  with  such  confidence  should 
speak  the  word  that  would  call  the  departed 
back  to  life.  And  that  same  Christ  is  waiting 
for  that  hallowed  moment  when  there  shall 
be  children  of  the  Father  so  filled  with  the 
faith  of  the  anointed  that  they  will  show  that 
death  has  no  power  in  the  presence  of  those 
who  are  in  deed  and  in  truth  joint  heirs 
with  Jesus.  But  merely  to  call  others  back 
from  the  dead  would  mean  little  or  nothing 
to  the  universal  reign  of  the  Son  of  the 
Highest.  Indeed  it  did  not  awaken  this 
faith  in  Lazarus.      It  would  not  awaken  it 

29 


The  Sinless,  SicJcless,  Deathless  Life 

in  others,  merely  to  call  them  back  from 
death  to  life.  What  God  is  working  for  in 
this  world  is  such  a  faith  in  the  followers  of 
his  Son  as  to  make  them  overcomers  such  as 
he  is  in  all  things.  In  the  presence  of 
threatened  death,  this  victory  would  shine 
forth  most  glorious. 

Merely  coming  back  from  the  dead  would 
not  do  this.  It  must  come  by  our  looking 
into  the  life  of  him  who  was  the  resurrection 
and  the  life.  Only  faith  will  awaken  that 
glorious  confidence  that  "he  that  believeth  in 
me  shall  never  die."  That  is  the  final,  full 
lesson  of  the  Spirit.  Some  day  it  will 
dawn  upon  the  heart  with  such  a  wondrous 
vision,  that  one  will  cry  out  with  a  joy  like 
the  angels,  "Eureka — I  have  found  the  pearl 
of  priceless  value — I  see  the  glory-goal  of 
all  creation — Christ's  triumph  of  the  death- 
less life."  Thitherward  you  will  run,  never 
weary;  and  walk  on  the  journey  to  that 
glory-place  and  never  faint;  for  you  know 
that  in  the  last  great  stand  you  will  have  to 
take  against  the  foe  never  yet  conquered, 
you  will  come  off  as  victorious  before  it 
as  did  our  Lord  the  Christ.  In  this  faith 
you  will  walk,  till  by  sight  you  will  see  the 
fact   wonderful.       Then    when   the    victory 

30 


Told  by  "The  Christ  of  God" 

shall  have  become  yours,  you  will  rejoice 
forever  that  you  were  permitted  to  blaze 
the  way  for  other  souls  to  walk  this  path 
hitherto  uritrod  since  our  Lord  passed  this 
way,  who  is  ever  calling  us  to  follow  boldly 
where  he  has  led  the  way  by  such  a  wonder- 
ful light  of  experience. 

Now  comes  the  last  great  test  for  Jesus. 
Can  the  Christ  do  what  he  said  he  ivould? 
Can  he  by  faith  throw  himself  into  the  jaws 
of  death,  and  come  off  unscathed  in  the  con- 
flict? Calvary  was  to  be  the  great  place  of 
the  test.  It  was  called  Golgotha,  the  place 
of  the  skull.  "The  place  of  the  skull,"  the 
whole  world  says  is  the  final  place  of  all. 
The  greatest  of  the  Greek  philosophers  had 
ever  before  him  the  skull  as  a  constant  re- 
minder that  philosophy  knows  no  way  lead- 
ing out  of  life's  mystery  that  will  let  us  es- 
cape this  as  the  common  goal  of  all.  Saint 
Francis,  "the  most  beautiful  character  since 
Saint  John  and  Jesus,"  in  his  hermit  cell, 
had  the  skull  ever  before  him,  between  the 
Bible  and  the  crucifix:  "for,"  said  he,  "it  is 
the  awful  reminder  that  somehow  and  some- 
where, this  must  be  banished  as  the  common 
end  of  all.  But  how,  only  God  knows  how." 
One  of  the  greatest  pictures  of  the  modern 

31 


The  Sinless-,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

artist  is  that  of  the  Magdalene  lying  pros- 
trate, reading,  before  the  skull.  It  is  the 
soul  of  the  artist  saying  that  the  end  of  all, 
with  literature  as  your  light,  is  the  same  as 
that  of  the  philosopher  and  the  saint,  the 
skull.  Even  modern  society  in  its  merry 
giddy-go-round  has  had  its  heart  touched, 
and  for  a  mement  has  been  made  to  come  to 
itself,  by  that  rare  etching,  picturing,  as  it 
were  in  a  mirror,  the  skull  as  the  last  sad 
scene  of  life,  whether  it  is  finished  as  a  farce 
or  as  a  tragedy.  On  the  tombstones  of  the 
graves  of  the  Puritans,  this  also  was  the  ever 
present  reminder  of  the  dark  tomb  with  its 
earth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  and  dust  to 
dust.  The  skull  and  cross-bones  were  chis- 
eled with  every  epitaph,  as  though  life  must 
in  the  end  fold  its  arms  forever  helpless  be- 
fore this  dread  enemy  of  the  race.  But  on 
Calvary,  Christ  once  and  forever  wiped  all 
this  out ;  and  it  is  left  to  the  believer  only  to 
appropriate  to  himself  the  glories  of  that 
triumphantly  finished  work.  The  taunts  of 
the  traitors  and  the  tirades  of  the  tribes,  at 
that  awful  moment  flung  back  into  the  face 
of  the  Saviour  the  "impossible"  in  this  awful 
conflict.  "He  saved  others,  himself  he  can- 
not save."     "Thou  that  destroyest  the  temple 

32 


Told  by  "The  Christ  of  God" 

and  buildest  it  in  three  days,  come  down 
from  the  cross  and  save  thyself,  if  thou  be 
the  Son  of  God."  Where  now  was  his  faith 
in  the  deathless  life?  Where  now  is  the 
glory  of  the  body,  aglow  with  the  glory  of 
the  highest? 

Yet  the  resurrection  moment  came,  when 
he  did  as  he  said  he  would.  And  Oh,  how 
glorious !  He  then  could  say,  I  told  you  that 
death  was  downed  and  doomed,  forever.  If 
one  only  believes,  he  will  also  experience  the 
glory  of  it.  A  new  life  was  Christ's  after- 
wards. He  had  slain  the  last  enemy  of  the 
race,  and  you  and  I  are  to  accept  this  victory, 
as  much  a  part  of  our  full  salvation  as  any 
other  of  the  good  news  that  the  God-spell  of 
Jesus  brings  us. 

Only  one  poor  soul  seemed  to  have  caught 
a  glimpse  of  this  glory  that  awaiteth,  and 
that  was  Mary  of  Magdala  who  at  the  last 
feast  anointed  the  Lord  with  the  precious 
ointment  which  she  had  saved  for  her  own 
burial.  She  must  have  felt,  for  the  moment 
at  least,  that  he  who  saved  her  from  her 
awful  life  of  sin  would  save  her  from  the 
tomb  and  she  would  not  need  the  burial  oint- 
ment. Even  the  harlots,  as  Jesus  said,  catch 
glimpses  of  the  glory  of  the  kingdom  before 

33 


The  Sinless,  SicJdess,  Deathless  Life 

many  of  the  wisest.  When  she  poured  the 
ointment  for  her  burial  upon  her  Lord,  he 
said,  "Let  her  alone.  She  hath  done  this 
against  the  day  of  my  burial."  To  her  as 
to  him  there  was  at  that  moment  a  feeling 
that,  in  living  contact  with  such  a  life  in  the 
Father  as  Jesus  had  and  ever  giveth,  there 
could  be  no  burial. 

Now  with  a  far  deeper  and  richer  mean- 
ing, come  the  last  words  of  Jesus  to  the 
disciples.  "When  he,  the  Spirit,  is  come  he 
will  convince  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteous- 
ness and  of  judgment."  "Of  judgment  be- 
cause the  prince  of  this  world  is  judged." 
The  prince  of  this  world  is  the  prince  of 
darkness  that  has  ever  put  the  fear  of  death 
into  our  lives.  Jesus  came  to  draw  out  the 
sting  of  death.  When  thou  seest  him  lifted 
up  triumphant  over  death  thou  mayst  rest 
assured  that  the  Spirit  that  took  him  in 
triumph  out  of  the  very  jaws  of  death,  will 
do  this  to  thee  also,  if  thou  wilt  only  believe. 
Faith  alone,  here  as  everywhere,  is  what 
brings  the  mighty  triumph.  Here  you  can 
take  your  stand;  God  is  helping  you  by  his 
completed  work,  most  clearly  shown  for  you 
in  Christ,  and  to  be  in  you,  if  you  will  but 
by  faith  appropriate  it.     How  can  his  words 

34 


Told  hy  "The  Christ  of  God" 

mean  aught  else :  "I  am  the  resurrection  and 
the  life;  whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in 
me  shall  never  die.  Believest  thou  this?" 
Stand  up,  Oh  redeemed  soul  that  believest 
that  Christ  is  the  expression  of  thy  full  and 
complete  salvation  and  answer  him,  as  he 
speaks  to  thee,  the  Everlasting  Yes.  Drown 
down  by  a  divine  demonstration  through 
thyself  the  whole  chorus  of  the  sirens,  sing- 
ing and  sighing  the  Everlasting  No.  This 
is  the  way  of  the  saved  into  the  fullness  of 
life  and  light.  Walk  forward  boldly  under 
the  leading  of  this  blessed  spirit.  The  ec- 
clesiastical lions,  that  may  roar  about  thee, 
are  all  chained  by  him  who  giveth  his  angels 
charge  to  keep  thee  in  this  blessed  way, 
which  God  is  opening  up  as  the  final  high- 
way by  which  we  are  to  come  into  the  inex- 
pressible glory-light.  Calvary,  the  place  of 
the  skull,  is  forever  passed  for  thee.  It  is 
nailed  with  thy  sins  to  the  accursed  tree. 
Thou  hast  part  in  the  first  resurrection. 
Death  and  hell  are  for  thee  cast  into  the  lake 
that  burneth  forever;  they  have  no  more 
power  over  thee  in  the  great  deliverance. 
It  is  the  last  turn  in  the  way  of  life,  from 
which  the  New  Jerusalem  bursts  upon  thee 
with  the  radiance  that  no  man  can  describe. 

35 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

Then  there  is  a  new  earth  with  this  new 
heaven  let  down  from  above.  Sickness  and 
sighing  and  death  are  gone  forever  in  the  full 
victory  that  overcometh.  Now  is  fulfilled 
the  great  prophecy  of  the  Hebrew  Targum: 
"Nine  thousand  myriads  of  worlds  receive 
influence  from,  and  are  upheld  by,  that  Gol- 
gotha, the  skull." 

This  is  the  thought  alone  that  makes  the 
Holy  Communion  forever  most  heavenly  and 
sublime.  "With  desire  have  I  desired  to  eat 
this  passover,  the  last  passover  with  you  be- 
fore I  suffer,  for  I  shall  eat  no  more  of  the 
fruit  of  the  vine  till  it,  the  passover,  shall  be 
fulfilled  in  the  kingdom  of  God." 

The  passover,  as  all  know,  got  its  name 
from  the  most  wonderful  of  the  series  of 
God's  great  deliverances  of  his  chosen  people. 

It  was  well  called  the  passover,  for  the 
Israelite  by  this  feast  recalled  above  all  else 
how  the  "death  angel"  passed  over  their 
home  that  night  when  he  brought  sorrow  so 
universal  to  the  people  of  Egypt.  The 
blood  on  the  doorpost  meant  no  death  of  the 
first  born  in  the  home  of  the  Israelite.  The 
passover  was  a  feast  memorial  of  this;  yet 
it  was  much  more.  It  was  a  feast  prophetic 
of  a  glorious  time  divine,  when  the  angel  of 

36 


Told  by  ''The  Christ  of  God'' 

death  should  be  ever  passed  and  over  with 
us.  When  that  came  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
would  be  fulfilled,  fill  us  full  of  the  rule  of 
the  divine  law  and  love.  That  time  came  as 
the  first  fruits  in  Jesus.  Over  him  the  death 
angel  waved  his  wand,  but  there  was  no  vic- 
tory; he  could  not  do  his  dark  and  deadly 
work.  Jesus  was  the  great  overcomer  in 
place  of  the  overcome.  The  Circe  wand 
could  not  do  for  him  what  it  had  done  as  a 
deed  so  dark  and  deadly  for  all  the  race.  He 
was  immune  to  death.  The  life  of  God 
coursed  through  his  very  being;  he  had 
passed  from  death  unto  life.  At  the  last 
supper  he  took  the  cup  "after  supper,"  that 
no  one  was  allowed  to  drink,  save  on  the  pen- 
alty of  death.  It  was  the  Elijah's  cup.  It  was 
the  one  that  could  be  drunk  of  only  when 
Elijah  the  deathless  should  return  and  hand 
it  to  the  lips  of  those  whom  God  has  destined 
to  become  forever  deathless.  But  a  greater 
than  Elijah  had  come.  It  was  the  longed- 
for  Messiah  of  the  race.  It  was  the  death- 
less one  to  whose  coming  the  passover  ever 
looked  forward  as  the  great  divine  event 
toward  which  the  whole  creation  longed  as 
the  striking  hour  of  the  deathless  life.  Then 
most  staggering  of  all,  Jesus  rose,  the  master 

37 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

of  the  holy  feast.  He  goes  not  to  the  open 
door,  as  was  the  custom,  nor  looks  out  into 
the  darkness,  saying,  "Oh,  Elijah,  when  wilt 
thou  come  and  give  us  to  drink  of  the  sacred 
cup,"  as  was  the  most  solemn  moment  of  the 
great  feast.  He  riseth  from  supper  and 
taketh  the  cup  of  Elijah,  and  said,  to  the 
startled,  staggering  amazement  of  them  all, 
"Drink  ye  all  of  it."  He  had  already  drunk. 
He  had  the  potency  of  the  divine  so  deep  in 
his  soul,  that  the  fruitage  of  the  deathless 
life  was  bound  to  come.  But  he  would  have 
nothing  for  himself  that  he  would  not  have 
for  all.  So  he  says  to  them.  Drink  ye  all  of 
it.  Ye  are  joint  heirs  with  me  of  the  death- 
less life,  if  ye  will  only  by  faith  accept  it. 
My  blood  not  only  is  upon  the  door  posts  of 
your  house,  but  courses  by  faith  through 
your  very  life.  7^  was  fulfilled  with  Jesus. 
It  may  be  fulfilled  in  us,  if  we  only  believe. 
It  will  be  fulfilled  sometime  and  somewhere, 
in  some  life  through  the  very  divine  demon- 
stration of  which  there  will  come  the  blessed 
return  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  to  the  heart- 
sick, heaven-homesick  world.  Then  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  will  be  within  us.  Then 
will  be  the  day  of  the  great  Jubilee.  The 
New  Jerusalem  will  be  ours,  and  we  shall  be 

38 


Told  by  ''The  Christ  of  God'* 

one  in  the  glorious  life  of  the  passover  for- 
ever fulfilled;  and  the  whole  earth  will  be 
filled  with  the  glory  of  this  final  vision,  most 
rapturous  and  most  sublimely  divine.  The 
deathless  life  is  God's  glory  goal,  and  earth's 
glory  goal.  It  is  the  riches  that  only  heaven 
can  give.  Beside  it,  all  is  but  dust  and  ashes 
to  the  soul.  We  who  are  of  the  "Church  of 
the  First  Born"  and  "whose  names  are  writ- 
ten in  heaven,"  have  sprinkled  upon  the  very 
doorposts  of  our  being  "the  blood  of  the 
lamb,  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world."  The  death  angel  will  and  must  pass 
over  us  forever,  if  we  will  only  believe  that 
the  deathless  life  is  the  full  and  final  will  of 
God  for  all  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  whole  thought  creation  is  groaning  and 
trembling  to  bring  forth  the  deathless  life 
as  the  great  cardinal  conviction  of  the  heart. 
Why  the  truth  seen  in  such  glory  glimpses 
has  not  burst  forth  into  a  clear,  steady  light 
as  the  crowning  glory  of  the  creed  of  Chris- 
tendom long  ago,  is  one  of  the  greatest 
mysteries  one  has  to  face,  but  no  greater 
than  "the  existence  of  evil,"  or  why  the  long- 
looked-for  Messiah  did  not  appear  long  be- 
fore he  came,  or  why  the  church  universal 
has  lived  in  such  long  expectation   for  his 

39 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

"second  coming,"  which  the  first  followers 
of  the  Lord  thought  might  come  at  any  time. 
On  the  other  hand  it  solves  these  three  great 
mysteries,  as  nothing  ever  has. 

All  this  is  not  a  belief  that  makes  a  life 
merely  ecstatic.  Indeed  it  is  quite  other- 
wise. It  is  a  faith  that  steadies  life,  and 
makes  it  move  on  in  "majestic  sweetness," 
and  with  "a  sweet  reasonableness,"  yet  with 
a  most  blessed  assurance,  that  all  things 
work  for  good  in  this  world,  and  all  trials  are 
but  goads  of  God  or  the  flails  of  the  angels 
bringing  us  into  the  heavenly  highway  of 
holiness.  It  is  the  beginning  of  the  longed- 
for  Millenium.  Out  of  the  reign  of  universal 
law  you  have  passed  into  His  life  of  everlast- 
ing love.  It  is  the  touch  that  plants  your 
feet  firmly  on  the  earth ;  but  it  lifts  your 
head  far  beyond  the  stars,  and  nestles  your 
heart  in  the  bosom  of  God! 

"Man's  thought  is  like  Antaeus,  and  must  be 
Touched  to  the  ground  of  Nature  to  regain 
Fresh  force,  new  impulse,  else  it  would  remain 
Dead  in  the  grip  of  strong  Authority. 
But  once  thereon  reset,  'tis  like  a  tree 
Sap-swolen  in  Spring  time;  bonds  may  not  restrain 
Nor  weight  repress;    its  rootlets  rend  in  twain 
Dead  stones  and  wall  and  rocks  resistlessly !" 

40 


Told  by  "The  Christ  of  God" 

Thus  Christ  touched  Death 
The  dread  destroyer  of  us  all.      But  when 
We  enter  into  Fellowship  with  him 
Who  is  the  resurrection  and  the  life; 
We  know  the  deathless  life  is  ours  as  his 
And  Faith  has  found  its  fullest,  fairest  victory, 
The  world  its  glorious  Easter-tide. 


41 


III. 

SEEN  BY  ARTISTS  AND  SEERS. 

The  poets,  the  artists  and  the  seers  are 
but  God's  fingerboards  everywhere  pointing 
to  the  deathless  life  as  the  great  golden 
milestone  of  the  ages,  toward  which  every 
thought-road  trends.  It  is  the  final  hallowed 
rest  place  of  all  the  throngs  without  number 
"stepping  heavenward." 

One  of  the  most  wonderful  of  these  seer 
visions  is  from  the  Talmud.  "When  the 
Messiah  shall  come,"  it  says,  "a  million 
hearts  shall  rejoice  at  the  place  of  the  skull." 
There,  they  felt,  would  come  deliverance 
from  death;  and  these  mortal  bodies  would 
be  forever  divinely  glorified.  To  translate 
the  many  words  into  our  common  thought 
vernacular,  using  their  own  precise  terms, 
the  message  runs  in  this  way:  "When  the 
Macrocosm,  the  greater  world,  will  come  into 
the  Microcosm,  the  little  world,  then  shall 
come  our  full  life  deliverance."  It  means 
when  the  great  thought  of  the  deathless  life, 
which  is  the  triumphant  thought  of  the  Uni- 
versal mind,  shall  have  come  into  and  taken 
full  possession  of  our  little  minds,  making 
us  believe  this  is  our  heavenly  inheritance; 

42 


Seen  by  Artists  and  Seers 

then  the  very  holding  of  this  great  conviction 
will  most  surely  bring  about  that  for  which 
millions  upon  millions  have  dreamed  of  and 
longed  for  in  life's  great  quest.  Then  shall 
the  whole  man  be  glorified;  and  redeemed 
in  body,  he  shall  walk  in  the  everlasting  light 
of  God. 

The  Jewish  seer  who  by  heavenly  insight 
wrote  these  most  prophetic  words  certainly 
caught  a  glimpse  of  what  was  fulfilled 
forever  on  Calvary,  the  "place  of  the  skull," 
and  of  the  glories  of  the  resurrection  and  the 
ascension  afterwards.  All  that  is  left  for 
us  to  do  is  to  appropriate  this  truth  once  for 
all  delivered  to  the  world  in  the  concrete 
through  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus, 
and  which  is  the  last  and  greatest  of  "the 
things  of  Christ"  that  the  Spirit  is  to  take 
and  make  real  unto  us.  This  makes  us 
break  the  "bread  of  heaven"  to  men,  ever 
feeding  the  famishing  heart  of  humanity, 
lifting  it  out  of  the  throngs  of  the  mortal  into 
the  countless  legions  of  the  immortal.  This 
makes  us  see  that  Calvary  is  the  place  where 
we  may  be  by  faith  as  dead  to  death  forever, 
as  was  the  forerunner  on  life's  great  heav- 
enly highway,  who  by  the  glorified  body  has 
entered  into  the  rest  that  remaineth,  into 

43 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

the  life  that  is  forever  deathless.  How  the 
scales  over  the  eyes  of  the  world  keep  it 
from  seeing  this  truth  of  truths,  which,  as 
surely  as  tomorrow's  sun,  is  to  be  the  vision 
that  is  to  bring  in  the  great  Jubilee  of  the 
world's  deliverance !  The  veil  over  the  eyes 
of  Jewdom  which  keeps  it  from  seeing  that 
Jesus  has  come  as  the  great  long  looked  for 
Messiah  is  not  greater  than  the  veil  over  the 
eyes  of  Christendom  which  keeps  it  form  see- 
ing that  by  faith  we  are  to  appropriate  the 
deathless  life  of  Jesus  to  our  own  souls.  We 
are  to  rest  assured  that  we  have  passed  from 
death  unto  life,  in  the  same  way  that  Jesus 
has  entered  into  this  everlasting  inheritance. 

This  truth,  as  the  seer-artist  Merson  has 
most  graphically  and  prophetically  pictured 
it,  is  written  even  larger  and  deeper  into  the 
life  of  the  Egyptian.  In  the  artist's  "The 
Repose  in  Egypt"  the  truth  of  the  prophetic 
vision  of  the  Talmud  is  told  with  a  power 
that  cannot  fail  to  grip  us. 

There,  as  silent  as  the  ages,  lies  the  great 
Sphinx,  half  buried  in  the  sands  of  the 
desert.  It  is  night;  a  most  holy  night. 
All  about  is  breathless  stillness.  The 
holy  family  have  gone  down  into  Egypt. 
The  virgin  mother  and  the  Christ  child,  the 

44 


Seen  by  Artists  and  Seers 

bringer  of  life  and  immortality  to  light,  are 
lying  in  sweet  repose  in  the  arms  of  the 
great  Sphinx,  the  enigma  of  history  as  well 
as  the  mystery  of  Egypt.  The  ass  which  has 
brought  them  on  their  long  journey  stands 
still  in  sleep  also.  Joseph  with  his  face 
turned  from  the  virgin  mother  and  the  Holy 
Child  is  lying  also  asleep  in  the  desert.  The 
trappings  of  the  journey  are  his  only  pillow 
and  the  starry  canopy  of  heaven  his  only 
coverlet.  The  little  fire  burns  low  in  the 
desert  sand  waste.  Its  smoke  is  ascending 
heavenward,  as  straight  as  the  arrow  flies, 
telling  there  is  stirring  not  a  breath  of  air; 
not  enough  of  the  coming  of  the  wind  to 
move  an  aspen  leaf.  A  holy  hush  is  all 
about.  The  stars  seem  to  look  down  with 
breathless  waiting  upon  that  thrice  hallowed 
silence.  Then  there  comes  a  light.  It  is  the 
only  light.  It  is  the  light  that  "never  shone 
on  land  or  sea."  It  is  the  light  of  heaven's 
effulgence,  breaking  forth  and  flooding  all 
with  heavenly  beauty,  as  it  comes  myster- 
iously from  the  Christ  child's  presence.  It 
is  the  Light  of  the  World,  which  is  Jesus! 
What  a  prophetic  fulfillment!  All  Egypt, 
as  no  other  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
longed  for  and  looked  most  expectantly  for- 

45 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

ward  to  the  coming  of  the  Osirus  Nu,  the 
Spirit  of  the  great  God  of  Life,  Osirus,  into 
the  heart  of  humanity,  that  should  so  fill  it 
that  these  bodies  of  ours  should  not  die,  but 
should  be  raised  into  newness  of  life.  Then 
we  should  be  glorified,  and  death  would  go 
down  forever  as  the  last  race  enemy  we  had 
to  meet,  and  we  should  all  sing  the  song  of 
the  everlasting  triumph.  All  the  Book  of 
the  Dead — the  Bible  of  Egypt — is  filled  with 
the  most  precious  passages,  telling  that  this 
is  the  great  expectation  that  was  filling  the 
heart  of  the  Nile  folks.  They  mummied 
their  dead  and  built  their  great  temples  and 
made  their  tombs  like  the  homes  of  holy 
communion  with  the  departed,  all  because 
they  believed  that  there  would  come  a  time 
of  the  completest  race  redemption,  when 
these  bodies  would  be  glorified,  and  the 
spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect  would  walk 
forever  in  the  newness  of  life,  in  the  com- 
pleted purpose  of  Osirus,  the  god  of  ever- 
lasting life  and  light. 

But  the  hope  so  long  deferred  made  the 
heart  of  the  nation  sick,  even  unto  death. 
As  a  last  and  lasting  monument  of  this 
hopeless  despair,  they  set  up  the  great  stone 
Sphinx  as  a  symbol  of  their  hope  of  hopes 

46 


Seen  by  A7'tists  and  Seers 

forever  unfilled;  so  that  all  the  ages  to 
come  might  read  the  death  of  God's  ideal  in 
their  souls,  a  death  that  meant  the  wiping 
out  forever  of  the  greatest  ancient  civiliza- 
tion from  the  earth.  How  significant  the 
memorial  they  set  up.  It  was  the  head  of 
the  man  and  the  body  of  the  beast.  It  was 
a  telling  that  they  believed  that  there  should 
be  a  transformation  from  the  carnal  into  the 
spiritual,  even  if  they  did  not  know  how  or 
where  it  should  be  accomplished.  They  felt 
the  great  enigma  of  life  was  "man  or 
beast";  and  hoped  that  the  time  would 
come  and  believed  it  would  come  when 
mortality  should  put  on  immortality,  and 
these  bodies  would  be  glorified,  and  there 
would  come  the  race's  final  and  full  de- 
liverance. But  Egypt  fell  into  the  sleep  of 
death,  because  it  lost  faith  in  the  fullness 
now  of  the  triumphant  life. 

But  in  the  fullness  of  time,  God  sent  the 
long  looked-for  deliverer  of  humanity,  Jesus. 
The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  send  his  child 
into  Egypt,  as  though  he  would  tell  to  them 
that  the  prophecy  through  them  so  long  de- 
ferred was  to  be  fulfilled  now  forever.  The 
artist  has  caught  the  seer  vision  wonder- 
fully as  he  makes  the  Christ  child,  born  alone 

47 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

from  above,  and  giving  forth  the  heavenly 
light  that  was  forevermore  to  waken  the 
world  from  Egyptian  darkness,  lie  in  the 
arms  of  the  Sphinx.  Thus  he  makes  the 
nations  feel  that  the  prophecy  of  the  whole 
wide  world,  regarding  the  coming  of  the 
deathless  life,  was  being  fulfilled.  This 
glorious  prophecy  was  blooming  into  actual 
history.  The  dream  that  nations  had  so  long 
been  dreaming  was  coming  true.  The  glori- 
fied body  and  the  deathless  life  were  in 
Jesus  actually  to  be  realized,  so  that  all  the 
world  might  catch  the  glory  of  the  gerat 
ideal,  and  be  caught  up  into  it.  Christ  came 
to  show  that  he  was  the  fulfiller  of  all  this 
hope  of  humanity  as  it  burned  so  strong  and 
bright  in  the  heart  of  Egypt.  Into  Egypt 
God  sent  his  Son  to  tell  us  that  the  longing  of 
Egypt  at  her  best  shall  be  satisfied ;  and  that 
the  dreams  that  nations  dream  of  the  death- 
less life  and  the  glorified  body  that  shall 
finally  accompany  it  shall  come  true.  Christ 
was  the  one  sent  of  God  under  the  guidance 
of  his  Spirit  to  tell  that  this  was  the  crown- 
ing glory  of  God's  universal  redemptive  pur- 
pose. Egypt,  the  land  of  Misereme,  the 
land  of  such  misery  to  God's  chosen  people, 
was  the  land  into  which  Jesus  first  must  go 

48 


Seen  hy  Artists  and  Seers 

to  tell  them  that  their  holy  quest  was  to  be 
realized,  and  that  the  deathless  life  of  the 
world  they  longed  for  as  no  other  people 
was  to  be  declared  forever,  through  him 
who  was  the  life  and  light  of  the  whole 
world.  Jesus  proclaimed  this  good  news  of 
the  full  redemption  by  faith  and  fact,  by  a 
most  practical  demonstration  as  well  as  by 
his  priceless  precepts. 

This  same  truth  burned  as  a  seer  vision 
in  the  heart  of  Sargent,  one  of  the  very  best 
of  our  modern  artists.  It  is  brought  out 
most  graphically  in  his  last  mural  decora- 
tion in  the  Boston  Public  Library,  his  great 
allegorical  work,  "The  Dogma  of  Redemp- 
tion." All  know  how  the  story  of  the  race 
in  its  long  development  from  savagery  up, 
has  been  told  by  various  artist,  in  their 
many  decorations  in  symbols  and  forms, 
throughout  this  great  temple  of  truth.  The 
mural  decorations,  from  the  lowest  hall  to 
the  upmost,  seem  like  "frozen  music"  in  art, 
whose  strains  are  like  a  "Coronation"  of 
Him  from  whom  all  blessings  flow  from 
heaven  to  earth.  To  Sargent  was  given  the 
great  honor  of  decorating  the  topmost  halls 
of  this  great  corridor  of  wisdom,  through 
which  throngs  are  ever  to  pass.     He  was  to 

49 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

tell  in  imagery  and  ideal  the  consummation 
of  the  ages  as  learning  was  to  lead  us  into 
it.  One  thing  only  was  suggested  to  him, 
and  that  was  that  he  was  to  make  the  theme 
of  his  great  message  "that  in  Israel  should 
all  the  world  be  finally  and  forever  blest." 
God's  chosen  people  should  be  the  ones 
through  whom  the  last  word  was  to  be  said 
for  the  redemption  of  the  race.  With  this 
understanding  he  took  up  his  task.  On  one 
end  of  the  great  upper  hall,  he  wrought  out 
some  years  ago,  what  was  then  his  famous 
masterpiece,  the  "Prophets."  A  marked 
separation  runs  across  the  wall,  dividing  the 
lunette  from  the  frieze  beneath.  Above  this 
is  pictured  in  glowing  allegory,  the  great 
historic  religions  of  the  land  of  the  Tigris 
and  the  Euphrates  on  the  one  side;  and  on 
the  other  the  great  religion  of  Egypt  with 
its  worship  of  heaven's  starry  host. 
Beneath  these  is  painted  the  story  of  God's 
chosen  people  in  their  awful  slave  bondage, 
when  God  gave  them  up  to  servitude,  on 
account  of  their  resistance  of  his  gracious 
plan  and  purpose.  Out  from  the  clouds, 
above  the  "other  gods,"  is  seen  stretched 
down  the  arm  of  Jehovah,  touching  by  his 
restraining  power  the  slayers  of  his  chosen 

50 


Seen  by  Artists  and  Seers 

people.  It  is  a  telling  in  a  story  most  glor- 
ious, that  religion  is  the  most  real  thing  in 
all  the  world,  and  God  as  revealed  through 
Israel  is  of  all  gods  the  greatest.  It  is  a 
telling  that  religion  is  the  crowning  glory  of 
all  people  of  the  earth;  and  that  of  all  re- 
ligions, that  of  the  Jew  is  the  full  and  final 
expression  of  the  will  of  God  for  all  the  race. 

Beneath  this  mingling  of  myth  and  history 
in  master  strokes  of  art,  there  runs  the 
heavy  line  of  complete  separation  from  the 
wide  frieze  just  underneath.  In  this  is  the 
long  row  of  the  "Prophets"  justly  world 
famous.  Moses,  the  lawgiver  of  his  people 
— the  greatest  of  the  prophets — is  brought 
out  most  prominently  and  is  the  very  center 
of  the  group.  He  is  holding  the  great  stone 
tables  of  the  Law,  given  for  all  people  for 
all  time,  from  the  very  hands  of  God  at 
Sinai's  summit.  How  he  seems  to  stand 
out  from  all,  in  boldest  relief. 

The  prophets  on  either  side  of  this  great 
"deliverer  of  his  people"  from  Egyptian 
bondage  are  all  centered  around  him  who 
holds  the  Law  as  the  great  purpose  of  all 
that  God  would  speak  to  and  through  their 
hearts.  One  and  all  of  these  messengers  of 
the  Almighty  seem  to  be  lifted  up  with  hope 

51 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

like  Isaiah;  or  bowed  down  with  unutter- 
able grief  like  Jeremiah,  the  weeping, 
"shrieking"  prophet.  They  all  felt  the  holy 
fire  of  God  burning  in  their  hearts;  and 
spoke  forth  the  message  for  their  people's 
deliverance ;  saying  that  God  was  calling  all 
men  out  of  bondage  into  freedom,  and  that 
sin  was  the  one  sole  thing  that  kept  them 
from  the  liberty  of  the  deathless  life.  The 
whole  message  from  the  brush  of  this  great 
artist-seer,  in  his  mural  decoration,  is  the 
story  of  religion  at  its  best,  before  the  com- 
ing of  Christ.  It  tells  how  the  Jew  was  the 
main  artery  in  the  heart  life  of  the  world. 
The  Hebrews  felt  the  life  of  the  true  God 
coursing  through  their  being  as  did  no  other 
people.  They  embodied  in  their  Book  of 
Books  the  more  or  less  perfect  realization  of 
the  heart  longings  of  all  other  folks.  They 
were  the  expression  of  religion  in  the  super- 
lative. Other  peoples  had  this  priceless  mes- 
sage only  in  a  comparative  degree.  But 
God  was  speaking  to  Israel  that  through 
them,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  he  might  bless 
the  entire  race  with  a  universal  and  per- 
petual pentecost. 

The  whole  theme  is  wonderful  in  its  con- 
ception.     As  the  artist  has  worked  it  out, 

52 


Seen  by  Artists  and  Seers 

it  is  just  as  wonderful  in  its  execution.  It 
is  a  silent,  enduring  sermon  to  the  throngs 
that  pass  by  and  look  upon  it  in  holy  won- 
derment. But  it  is  still  a  message  that  lies 
imperfect  in  the  heart  of  the  Old  Testament, 
a  message  that  must  be  unfolded  into  the 
passion  flower  of  the  ages,  through  him  who 
bloomed  and  made  fragrant  the  earth,  like 
a  flower  of  Paradise. 

The  artist  felt  all  this;  hence  there  came 
another  moment  to  him  in  his  heart  awaken- 
ing, a  moment  that  revealed  to  him  the 
heavenly  sequel  to  this  thrice  holy  message 
that  had  burned  so  wondrously  in  his  heart. 
On  the  opposite  wall,  in  the  long  corridor, 
he  has  painted  the  great  fulfillment  of  this 
mighty  message  which  has  charmed  the  ages 
— the  matchless  story  of  Calvary.  All  who 
asked  him  to  take  up  the  holy  task  left  him 
perfectly  untrammeled  as  to  the  way  he 
would  work  it  out.  He  confessed  he  had 
had  no  experience  along  this  line  of  holy  art. 
But  into  his  mind  and  heart  there  came  like 
a  vision  from  above  the  conception  that  sure- 
ly flesh  and  blood  never  revealed  unto  him. 
Only  the  Father  of  Light  could  have  given 
the  art  vision  that  seems  the  highest  this  age 
has  had  of  the  great  purpose  of  redemption, 

53 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

and  the  true  place  of  the  Jewish  Messiah  as 
the  final  and  complete  Redeemer  of  the  race. 
Again  there  runs  across  the  wall  a  great 
line  of  separation  between  the  lunette  and 
the  freize  beneath,  as  that  between  the 
"Prophets"  and  the  allegory  of  the  old 
heathen  religions,  on  the  wall  opposite,  only 
here  the  separation  is  not  complete.  Above 
in  the  lunette  is  both  painted  and  moulded 
with  the  rarest  touches  of  art,  the  scene  of 
all  scenes  most  deathless  and  divine,  the 
crucifixion  of  Jesus.  There  on  the  cross, 
over  which  are  written  the  Latin  words, 
"Dying  for  the  sins  of  the  world,"  hangs  the 
dying  Saviour  of  the  race.  On  the  one  side 
of  our  dying  Lord  is  bound  up  with  him 
Adam,  the  father  of  all  humanity;  and  on 
the  other,  wrapped  with  the  common  girdle, 
is  Eve,  the  mother  of  all  the  race.  No  such 
conception  of  Jesus'  vital  place  in  the  world 
life  has  ever  entered  into  the  mind  and  heart 
of  an  artist,  ere  this.  The  face  of  Adam, 
the  forebear  of  our  humanity,  is  coarse  and 
cloddy,  showing  that  he  was  truly  the  most 
earthy  of  the  earth.  The  face  of  Eve,  the 
world-mother,  has  in  it  the  traces  of  the  more 
heavenly  and  eternal  hope.  Each  hold  out 
in  their  hands  golden  chalices  to  catch  the 

54 


Seen  by  Artists  and  Seers 

blood  floAving  from  the  wounds  of  the  nail 
prints  in  the  hands  of  the  crucified  Christ. 
Beneath,  entwining  the  feet  of  the  Saviour, 
is  the  serpent  that  had  so  long  bruised  the 
heel  of  the  race.  And  still  underneath  this 
is  wrought  in  the  foot  of  the  cross,  held  by 
the  angels,  the  most  beautiful  picture  in 
symbolism,  telling  the  purpose  of  Calvary  for 
all  the  race.  It  is  a  representation  moulded 
and  wrought  out  in  the  purest  gold,  of  the 
pelican  driving  its  beak  into  its  own  vitals; 
taking  of  its  very  own  life  blood  to  be  given 
to  its  offspring  as  their  only  source  of  life. 
Here  is  the  whole  message  of  redemption 
written  like  "apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of 
silver."  It  is  the  story  of  the  ages  written 
in  the  sign  language  of  nature,  ready  to  be 
read  without  doubt  as  to  its  meaning,  by 
every  child  of  humanity.  Giving  his  life 
blood  a  ransom  from  death  for  many ;  that 
is  the  way  the  Christ  is  dying  for  the  race. 

Fallen  humanity,  pictured  so  naively  in 
Genesis  in  the  persons  of  our  first  parents, 
is  taking  of  the  life  blood  of  the  great  life 
giver  of  humanity,  who  by  his  death  has 
forever  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light.  Eternal  life,  so  long  lost,  is  now  for- 
ever found.     It  is  for  all.     The  Christ  bound 

55 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

up  with  Adam  and  Eve  in  this  holy  resur- 
rection shows  that  with  God  there  is  neither 
male  or  female,  in  the  great  restoration  that 
through  Calvary  he  is  forever  bringing  back, 
Christ  came  to  have  us  all  drink  of  the 
blood-covenant,  that  binds  us  back  to  the 
life  of  the  Eternal.  This  alone  is  to  bring 
us  all  into  the  deathless  life  of  Jesus.  It  is 
the  dawning  of  the  new  day  upon  all  hu- 
manity. It  is  the  coming  of  the  "divine  de- 
mocracy" which  means  that  whatever  was 
in  the  life  of  our  Lord  is  to  be  in  the  life  of 
all  of  us.  This  is  the  "Dogma  of  Redemp- 
tion," with  all  the  halo  of  heaven  about  it. 

Underneath  all,  the  artist  has  placed  the 
most  wondrous  words  which  he  once  found 
on  the  altar  piece  in  Florence:  "He  came  to 
redeem  our  bodies  and  to  cleanse  our  hearts." 
This  is  the  rhapsody  of  the  redemption  of 
the  ages.  This  is  the  final  reality  forever 
of  it.  Anything  short  of  this  has  missed 
the  mark  of  its  most  hallowed  purpose.  The 
redeemed  body  as  well  as  the  stainless  heart 
is  the  whole  round  meaning  of  Calvary.  To 
proclaim  anything  less  as  the  passion  of 
Golgotha  is  coming  short  of  the  crowning 
purpose  of  the  Cross. 

In  the  lunette  above  the  Crucifixion  scene 

56 


Seen  by  Artists  and  Seers 

is  the  Trinity,  with  the  "seven  spirits  around 
the  throne."  It  is  as  though  the  artist  would 
say  that,  sacred  as  the  thought  of  the 
Trinity  has  been  to  the  church  through  all 
the  Christian  centuries,  even  more  sacred  is 
this  great  rounded  out,  complete  thought  of 
the  full  and  free  redemption  to  be  to  us  for- 
ever. Nothing  is  so  holy;  nothing  lifts  one 
so  into  the  very  holy  of  holies,  as  to  feel  that 
this  is  the  great  divine  design — That  we  are 
to  be  fullij  as  well  as  forever  one  with  Christ 
Jesus.  He  came  to  redeem  our  bodies  as 
well  as  to  cleanse  our  hearts.  Calvary  will 
be  always  a  mystery  till  we  find  this  com- 
plete message  in  it.  Then  will  it  cease  to 
be  the  place  that  is  "dark  and  dreadful." 
It  will  become  the  place  bathed  ever  in 
heaven's  most  holy  light  and  life. 

Even  more  remarkable  than  all  this  won- 
drous imagery  is  that  other  conception  of 
the  artist,  as  a  result  of  which  he  allows  the 
foot  of  the  cross,  expressing  the  wonderful 
truth  drawn  from  the  sybolism  of  the  stork, 
to  break  through  the  separation  of  the  frieze 
into  the  space  beneath.  In  the  picture  on 
the  opposite  wall,  the  separation  between 
heaven  and  earth  was  complete.  There  was 
no  place  where  God  broke  through,  as  though 

57 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

he  came  to  stay.  But  here  the  foot  of  the 
cross  breaks  into  the  place  where  the  world 
lives.  About  it,  corresponding  to  the 
prophet  figures  on  the  opposite  side,  are 
eight  angels,  bathed  in  heaven's  most  efful- 
gent light.  Two,  with  their  faces  radiant 
as  they  seem  to  to  catch  God's  final,  fullest 
purpose,  are  holding  the  cross.  Three 
others,  on  each  side,  are  holding  the  instru- 
ments of  torture  at  the  crucifixion — the 
nails,  the  hammer,  the  scourge  and  the 
sponge,  the  ladder  and  the  spear  that  pierced 
the  side  of  Jesus,  from  which  flowed  the 
water  and  the  blood  for  the  cleansing  and 
the  vivifying  of  the  coming  race.  All  of 
these  are  held  by  angels,  filled  with  joy,  as 
much  as  to  say  forever  to  the  world,  that 
our  greatest  griefs  and  tortures  are  but  the 
flails  of  the  angels  driving  us  into  the  way 
of  the  more  perfect  and  triumphant  life. 
What  a  marked  contrast  are  these  to  the 
prophets  on  the  other  side,  who  one  and  all 
seem  to  be  saying,  "Oh,  if  God  would  but 
rend  the  heavens  and  come  down."  The 
angels  in  their  exultant  joy  seem  to  be  say- 
ing, "He  has  come  down  and  tabernacled 
among  us;  and  is  giving  himself  that  we 
should  be  taken  up  into  the  fullness  of  his 

58 


Seen  by  Artists  and  Seers 

glory  of  the  redeemed  body  and  the  deathless 
life." 

If  we  will  believe  all  this  as  God's  good 
purpose  for  every  believer,  we  shall  be  no 
longer  among  the  prophets,  still  shut  out  of 
heaven,  wailing  to  have  God  rend  the  heav- 
ens and  come  down  to  us,  that  his  full  glory 
may  burst  upon  us.  We  shall  rather  be 
among  the  angels  rejoicing  that  God  has 
come  into  our  bodies,  the  very  temples  of  his 
presence,  and  given  us  a  joy  that  sends  forth 
a  song  that  no  one  can  ever  learn,  save  those 
who  have  accepted  by  faith  this  full  and 
free  salvation  for  all  of  us.  Then  the  long 
night  of  life  shall  have  burst  into  the  eternal 
day;  the  joy  of  which  knows  no  bounds; 
and  the  peace  of  which  is  like  a  river  bear- 
ing one  along  from  glory  to  glory,  to  the 
final  fullness  of  life  in  the  full  consummation 
of  the  life  of  Jesus. 

The  artists  and  seers  have  also  caught 
two  great  corollaries  of  the  deathless  life, 
which  are  the  ones  that  will  ever  be  to  the 
world  its  greatest  joy. 

One  is  that  all  worry  and  fear  are  to  go 
in  the  faith  of  the  great  deliverance  from 
death  and  the  grave.  Dante  opened  his 
immortal  dream  by  telling  of  the  words  over 

59 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

the  entrance  to  the  lost's  dreadful  abode — 
"Abandon  all  hope  all  ye  who  enter  here." 
He  has  also  told  the  most  joyous  news  of 
how  we  are  to  abandon  all  fear  when  once 
we  have  entered  into  the  great  full  fellow- 
ship of  the  Redeemer  and  the  redeemed.  It 
is  a  wonderful  vision.  The  fire-brands  are 
falling  from  Hell.  As  they  touch  the  bared 
backs  of  the  doomed  they  bring  a  torture 
to  the  tormented  that  no  language  can  tell. 
But  as  they  fall  upon  the  backs  of  the  saved, 
these  brands  are  transformed  into  the  fairest 
and  most  fragrant  roses  from  Paradise,  and 
bring  a  joy  supernal  to  the  blest  of  God. 

So  is  the  vision  of  the  full  deliverance 
from  all  our  woes,  that  faith  is  alone  to 
bring.  The  fire-brands  of  hell  as  they  fall 
upon  the  hearts  of  the  unbeliever  bring  tor- 
ture untenable.  But  as  they  fall  upon  the 
hearts  of  the  full  believer  they  are  like  the 
flowers  from  the  garden  of  the  gods  that 
make  life  fragrant  with  the  aroma  of  heaven 
and  bring  unspeakable  joy.  They  make  us 
realize  the  wonders  of  our  great  divine  de- 
liverance, and  no  longer  the  awfulness  of 
our  former  woe. 

The  other  thing  the  seer  vision  brings  as 
a  great  life  corollary  is  that  the  drudgery  of 

60 


Seen  by  Artists  and  Seers 

life  is  turned  into  a  thing  of  the  greatest 
delight.  Sacrifice  and  service  are  the 
sweetest  words  to  be  ever  heard. 

Mrs.  Bartome,  the  Queen  of  the  "King's 
Daughters"  for  so  many  years,  told  how  this 
great  discovery  came  as  a  great  divine  life 
recovery  to  her  own  soul.  She  said  she  was 
in  the  Louvre  at  Paris  once,  and  saw  the 
famous  picture,  which  she  loves  to  call  "the 
angels  of  the  kitchen."  It  is  a  scene  where 
in  a  place  within  the  palace  the  food  is 
being  prepared.  All  who  are  doing  even 
the  most  menial  service  are  angels.  Over 
the  faces  of  one  and  all  plays  the  light  of 
heaven.  In  the  faces  of  all  is  a  delight  that 
no  one  can  fully  tell.  Service  and  sacrifice, 
under  the  full  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  seem 
like  benedictions  of  heaven  to  us  and  are  a 
dread  and  drudgery  no  more.  By  them,  in 
our  new-found  joy,  we  bless  and  save  the 
world. 

All  this  was  the  practical  side  of  the 
deathless  message  of  Jesus.  He  showed 
how  a  crown  of  thorns  could  be  changed  into 
a  crown  of  glory.  He  showed  how  service 
and  sacrifice  were  the  most  blessed  experi- 
ences of  the  soul.  He  who  girded  himself 
with  a  towel  in  his  last  life  moments,  and 

61 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

washed  the  disciples'  feet,  said,  "As  I  have 
done  to  you  so  do  ye  ever  to  one  another,  if 
you  would  joyously  follow  me."  He  poured 
his  soul  out  unto  death,  and  gave  himself 
a  loving  ransom  for  many  on  the  altar  of  the 
cross,  life's  sin-cursed  tree. 

Christ  seems  to  have  dropped  his  life 
down  into  this  great  world  life  of  ours  to 
give  us  of  his  own  life  blood  to  make  us 
realize  that  fully  in  his  deathless  life,  the 
greatest  curses  of  life  are  turned  into  its 
greatest  blessings.  In  him  thus  also,  service 
and  sacrifice,  the  things  most  abhorred,  be- 
come the  things  that  bring  to  life  its  most 
heavenly  delight.  For  he  who  loses  his  life 
in  the  life  and  for  the  life  of  others,  finds  it 
for  the  first  time  in  the  fullness  of  heaven's 
supernal  and  everlasting  joy. 

Poets  and  seers  and  artists  have  ever 
caught  the  foregleams  of  the  coming  of  this 
"day  of  the  Lord."  This  thing  that  saints 
and  seers  and  singers  dream  will  come  true 
as  truly  as  did  the  prophecies  regarding  the 
Messiah  at  the  first  coming  of  Jesus. 


62 


IV. 

SOUGHT  BY   SCIENTISTS  AND  PHI- 
LOSOPHERS. 

We  have  seen,  in  a  former  chapter,  that 
the  whole  trend  of  the  Scriptures  is  toward 
the  deathless  life,  as  God's  full  and  final  race 
purpose.  The  words  of  Jesus  have  to  be 
wrenched  most  woefully  out  of  their  face 
meaning  to  interpret  them  otherwise  than 
this.  If  he  is  truly  the  great  message- 
bringer  of  life  in  its  fullness,  we  cannot  help 
but  feel  that  triumph  over  death  and  the 
grave  is  the  last  word  of  the  Messiah,  that 
the  Spirit  is  to  take  of  the  things  of  Jesus 
and  make  real  unto  us. 

In  the  chapter  following,  we  have  noticed 
that  the  seer  has  found  the  same  truth,  the 
vision  of  visions  that  has  ravished  his  heart. 
Whether  the  seer  is  the  Hebrew  prophet  or 
the  artist  under  the  spell  of  the  Muse,  both 
are  one  in  giving  forth  these  foregleams  of 
coming  humanity.  Under  the  divine  afflatus 
each  has  caught  the  glory  of  the  deathless 
life,  as  the  message  above  all  messages,  in 
their  visions  of  final  plans  and  purposes  of 
the  Highest. 

If  the  universe  is  one  mighty  harmony  as 

63 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

well  as  one  mighty  whole,  one  would  expect 
that  science  and  philosophy,  when  mo'st  un- 
trammeled  with  the  traditions  of  the  past, 
must  join  with  theartists  and  seers  in  making 
this  great  conviction  the  summum  bonum  of 
the  race.  It  is  surprising  to  see  how  breath- 
lessly near  they  are  coming  both  to  feel  with 
religion  that  man  is  not  only  one  in  body  and 
mind  and  heart  in  the  life  of  the  Spirit,  but 
that  we  are  to  come  to  realize  that  we  are 
indeed  to  be  joint  heirs  with  Jesus  in  the 
passion  and  possession  of  the  sinless,  sickless 
and  deathless  life  of  the  great  Wayshower, 
who  declared  and  demonstrated  this  was  the 
way  of  heaven  for  all  of  us. 

The  great  storm  center  of  science  today 
in  its  thinking  is  around  the  great  mystery 
of  life.  How  we  may  have  life,  eternal  life, 
and  have  it  more  abundantly,  is  the  one 
great  question  ever  uppermost.  Science 
is  so  intensely  on  the  trail  of  immortality, 
that  the  deathless  life  is  no  longer  thought 
of  as  a  fancy  or  chimera.  Rather  is  it  com- 
ing to  be  realized  that  it  is  in  the  realm  of 
the  most  naturally  expected. 

Any  moment  is  liable  to  reveal  this  great 
secret,  hid  from  the  ages,  and  by  which  the 
whole  wide  world  is  to  be  blessed.     All  are 

64 


Sought  by  Scientists  and  Philosophers 

living  in  the  great  expectation  that  this  is 
the  great  good  news  that  is  to  be  soon  sent 
as  glad  tidings  of  gerat  joy  every  place. 

The  story  of  this  great  expectancy  and 
what  has  already  been  done  toward  its  at- 
tainment, has  been  lately  told  in  part 
by  Dr.  Henry  Smith  Williams,  one  of  the 
foremost  and  most  scholarly  popularizers  of 
all  that  is  best  in  scientific  discovery  and  re- 
search. In  his  magazine  article  in  which 
he  relates  this,  it  is  clearly  evident  that  the 
scientists'  race  after  the  heart  of  reality  is 
only  that  they  may  bring  us  into  perpetuity 
of  life.  "Why  not  live  forever"  is  the 
startling  caption  of  the  article,  revealing  how 
this  discovery  of  science  is  already  almost 
as  near  to  us  as  hands  and  feet.  Already 
the  chemist  has  shown  "how  dead  tissue  has 
been  made  to  come  back  to  life."  Already 
the  bacteriologist  is  convinced  that  death 
is  but  an  overcoming  of  us  by  the  disease 
germs  in  the  great  bacteriological  battle; 
and  he  is  finding  how  he  can  inoculate  the 
patient  so  as  to  put  the  opposing  bacilli 
more  and  more  on  the  losing  side  of  the  great 
conflict. 

In  the  field  of  preventative  medicine  the 
war  against  disease  and  death  has  been  car- 

65 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

ried  on  with  a  most  startling  series  of  vic- 
tories which  have  routed  the  disease  and 
death  enemy  of  the  race  at  every  point  of 
the  conflict.  Here  are  the  exact  words  of 
Dr.  Williams,  telling  us  what  has  already 
been  actually  accomplished: 

"Today  preventive  medicine  is  wrestling 
with  these  disease  bacteria  hosts,  and  seems 
in  a  fair  way  to  banish  most  of  them.  A 
century  ago  smallpox  claimed  by  death  about 
one-tenth  of  the  entire  population.  Today 
smallpox  has  virtually  been  banished.  Twen- 
ty years  ago  diphtheria  was  the  scourge  of 
childhood;  today  it  is  held  securely  in  check 
by  the  antitoxine  of  Behring.  Ten  years 
ago  typhoid  fever  was  a  menace  that  threat- 
ened everybody ;  today  the  vaccine  of  Wright 
offers  immunity  to  whoever  cares  to  use  it. 
Three  years  ago  syphilis  seemed  an  uncon- 
querable pest;  today  the  'salvarsin'  of 
Ehrlich  offers  a  specific  that  cures  in  a 
single  dose.  A  year  ago  cancer  was  the  de- 
spair of  physicians;  today  there  is  at  least 
the  hope  that  a  remedy  is  being  perfected  in 
the  hands  of  Wassermann  and  Ehrlich  for 
its  final  banishment.  The  great  method  of 
all  today  is  to  fight  fire  with  fire.  They  in- 
troduce into  the  blood  the  serum  that  over- 
comes the  germ  bacilli  of  disease,  so  that 
they  are  more  and  more  fighting  a  losing 
battle.  And  it  seems  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  this  must  not  be  finally  successful 
in  the  bringing  forth  of  the  deathless  life." 

66 


Sought  by  Scientists  and  Philosophers 

It  is  not  surprising  in  the  face  of  these 
facts  that  specialists  in  the  very  forefront 
of  the  Armageddon  war  of  the  disease  germs, 
feel  that  every  battle  is  making  it  clearer 
that  the  full  and  final  victory  against  dis- 
ease and  death  is  not  far  off.  Dr.  Alexis 
Carrell  of  the  Rockefeller  Institute  of  New 
York,  in  his  great  joy,  asks  the  question,  "If 
then  the  death-bringing  agents  can  be  over- 
come, why  should  not  man  live  indefinitely?" 
Prof.  H.  S.  Jennings  of  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity waxes  still  bolder  in  his  conviction, 
when  he  says  that  "old  age  and  death  have 
no  necessary  place  in  the  life  of  these  crea- 
tures, the  protozoa,"  which  are  the  basal 
principle  of  all  life.  If  not  there,  why,  one 
most  naturally  asks,  has  it  in  man,  the 
crowning  synthesis  of  these  miniature  vital 
molecules  of  our  total  life  make-up. 

It  is  from  just  such  visions  and  discoveries 
of  the  scientists  as  these,  that  Dr.  Williams 
is  bold  to  say : 

"In  view  of  all  these  discoveries  it  is  evi- 
dent that  if  just  the  right  conditions  could 
be  found,  man  need  not  die,  except  by  acci- 
dent,— including  in  the  tragedy  of  accidents 
the  attack  of  specific  diseases.  Putting  the 
matter  in  its  baldest,  the  question  may  be 
said    to    be    reopened    as    to    whether    the 

67 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

familiar  phrase,  'natural  death,'  is  not  a 
misnomer;  for  is  any  one  of  us  made  to  die 
a  strictly  natural  death?" 

Thus  Science,  the  god  of  the  most,  has  al- 
ready clearly  given  forth  the  holy  oracle  at 
the  moments  of  its  highest  inspiration,  that 
makes  one  feel  that  the  message  of  Jesus, 
the  bringer  of  life  and  immortality  to  light, 
is  the  final,  full  message  that,  not  only  all 
the  world  is  longing  for,  but  all  the  world 
is  bound  to  have  realized.  Man  is  not  made 
to  die!  This  is  the  belief  that  is  coming 
fast  to  be  realized  as  the  rock  foundation  on 
which  we  are  to  build.  If  we  will  accept  by 
faith  the  fullness  of  life  as  Jesus  proclaimed 
it,  in  his  very  being,  as  the  gift  of  God  to 
be  had  freely,  without  money  and  without 
price,  by  all,  we  will  enter  into  the  fullness 
of  our  deathless  inheritance  as  made  clear 
to  us  in  the  life  of  the  Son  of  the  Highest. 

If  we  would  only  believe  this  is  the  will  of 
God  for  all  humanity,  with  half  the  zeal  we 
believe  it  is  appointed  unto  man  once  to  die 
(the  dead  dogma  of  the  Old  Testament 
that  Jesus  came  to  do  away  with  forever), 
we  would  find  ourselves  borne  upward  by 
the  Spirit  as  on  angels'  wings.  There  would 
come  a  new  virility,  arid  such  a  quickening 

68 


Sought  by  Scientists  and  Philosophers 

of  these  mortal  bodies  that  we  could  indeed 
and  in  truth  "riin  and  never  be  weary  and 
walk  and  never  faint."  We  would  know 
that  we  with  Jesus  had  passed  in  every  sense 
of  the  word  from  death  unto  life,  and  could 
not  help  but  proclaim  it  with  him  as  the  free 
gift  of  heaven  to  every  soul  that  believeth. 
Thus  believing,  we  would  indeed  find  our 
wagons  "hitched  to  the  star"  above  the  stars 
— the  star  of  Bethlehem  leading  us  through 
Jesus  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Eternal,  and 
into  realizing  the  fullness  of  his  glorious 
purpose.  Faith  alone  is  the  one  thing  need- 
ful to  bring  the  fruition  of  this  glorious 
incarnation  of  heaven  that  will  bring  forth 
deathless  man  as  God's  most  perfect  product. 

Philosophy  is  but  the  background,  the  hin- 
ter-land,  of  science.  It  is  the  essence  of 
metaphysics,  that  is  always  the  substratum 
of  physics.  It  is  the  connecting  link  between 
the  physical  and  the  spiritual,  the  bridge 
from  the  sense  world,  into  the  world  of  the 
Spirit. 

This  being  so,  it  is  not  surprising  that  in 
the  realm  of  philosophy,  in  its  most  perfect 
freedom,  we  should  find  the  vistas  opening 
up  into  the  same  mighty  vision  that  is  now 

69 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

enrapturing  the  heart  of  the  scientist,  and 
has  ever  ravished  the  hearts  of  all  those  led 
fully  and  forever  by  the  Spirit. 

If  philosophy,  "the  queen  of  the  sciences," 
is  but  "theology  spelled  another  way,"  as 
Professor  Palmer  of  Harvard  puts  it,  one 
would  surely  expect  that  the  philosopher  and 
the  theologian  will  find  the  same  great  glory 
vision  of  the  deathless  life  burst  upon  them 
as  their  deathless  inheritance. 

The  truth  that  burned  so  deeply  in  the 
heart  of  Luther  at  his  most  soul-uplifted 
moment;  the  truth  which  came  home  with 
such  undownable  conviction  to  Dr.  A.  J.  Gor- 
den,  one  of  the  rarest  men  of  spiritual  in- 
sight; the  truth  that  has  possessed  Prof. 
Orr  of  Edinburgh,  making  him  feel  that  the 
crowning  of  the  great  message  of  "God's 
Image  in  Man"  is  the  undownable  conviction 
that  man  was  made  for  the  deathless  life, 
and  that  redemption  has  come  far  short  of 
its  purpose,  till  it  brings  forth  this  priceless 
product — these  one  and  all  make  one  eager 
to  know  what  is  the  last  word  philosophy 
has  to  say  regarding  this  fact,  as  the  great 
heart  longing  of  the  race. 

Without  question  the  two  men  who  are 
the    major    prophets    of    the    philosophical 

70 


Sought  by  Scientists  and  Philosophers 

world  today  are  Henri  Bergson  of  Paris  and 
Prof.  Rudolph  Eucken  of  Jena.  No  one  has 
taken  such  a  grip  on  the  thought  of  the  hour 
as  these  two  men  have. 

The  late  Prof.  James  of  Harvard,  shortly 
before  he  passed  away,  said  of  Bergson  that 
he  was  "the  best  world  interpreter  of  the 
hour."  When  he  lectured  in  Oxford,  throngs 
listened  to  his  message.  No  one  for  a 
quarter  of  century  got  such  a  heart  and 
mind  grip  on  the  university.  On  both  sides 
of  the  sea  he  is  the  one  man  who  is  gripping 
men,  and  opening  their  eyes  to  see  that  there 
is  a  way  out  of  the  material  maze  of  things 
in  which  we  have  so  long  wandered.  He 
has  pointed  out  the  open  door  for  the  most 
thoughtful,  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Spiritual 
and  into  our  Father's  house,  that  was  seem- 
ingly closed  to  most.  His  work  on  Creative 
Evolution  is  perhaps  the  best  summary  of 
all  he  has  had  to  say.  Here  is  his  remark- 
able summing  up  of  his  world  message, 
which  shows  most  clearly  that  philosophy 
and  science  are  one  in  their  vision  of  the 
coming  glory-goal: 

"The  animal  takes  its  stand  on  the  plant. 
Man  bestrides  animality,  and  the  whole 
humanity  in  time  and  space  is  one  immense 
army  galloping  beside,  and  before  and  be- 

71 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

hind  each  one  of  us  in  the  overwhelming 
charge,  able  to  beat  down  every  resistance, 
and  clear  the  most  formidable  obstacles, 
perhaps  even  death,  on  the  road  which  leads 
to  the  Life  of  the  Spirit." 

Surely  no  words  could  seem  clearer  as  to 
what  Bergson  feels  is  the  end  that  is  inevi- 
table. It  is  not  toward  eternal  death  but 
eternal  life  that  the  great  on-movement  of 
everything  is  sweeping  us.  In  man  the 
majesty  and  the  mightiness  of  this  final  mes- 
sage is  to  be  seen  in  its  fullness.  Bergson 
sees  that  man  was  not  made  to  die.  He  has 
made  the  dirge  of  the  Greeks  as  given  in  the 
Antigone  of  Sophocles — "Over  all  man  is 
victorious  save  death" — give  way  to  the 
great  triumphant  strains  of  victory  given  us 
by  Jesus.  Philosophy,  like  Science,  is  be- 
ginning to  burst  forth  in  heavenly  rapture, 
"Oh  death,  where  is  thy  sting,  oh  grave, 
where  is  thy  victory?"  Bergson  sees  that 
it  is  the  height  of  reason,  as  of  faith  and 
hope,  to  point  to  Jesus  as  the  thing  accom- 
plished of  God  in  his  full  race  purpose.  He 
believes  in  his  heart  of  hearts  that  the  Spirit 
of  God  in  man  is  groaning  through  the 
whole  creation  to  bring  forth  this  same  per- 
fect fruit  as  the  crowning  universal  purpose. 
Philosophy  to  him  is  to  meet  the  last  enemy, 

72 


Sought  by  Scientists  and  Philosophers 

and  to  meet  it  in  victory.  We  are  to  know 
that  the  divine  design  is  life  not  death  for 
man — the  eternal  life  in  which  these  mortal 
bodies  of  ours  are  to  be  quickened  under  the 
spell  of  the  Spirit,  so  that  they  shall  be  glori- 
fied. Philosophy  will  then  believe  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  in  a  far  larger, 
fuller  sense  than  the  Apostles'  Creed  first 
put  it,  and  all  Christendom  has  since  that 
time  continually  professed  to  believe  it.  We 
shall  find  faith  maturing  into  fact  as  we  be- 
lieve this;  and  day  by  day  we  shall  find  life 
treading  the  "upward  way."  Some  day 
under  such  faith  we  will  have  found  that 
death  will  be  as  completely  wiped  out  of  our 
belief  as  a  great  reality,  as  are  the  fairy 
tales.  We  shall  see  and  believe  that  the  end 
and  aim  of  man  is  the  deathless  life. 

As  we  accept  this  fact  and  go  about  our 
Father's  business  in  the  great  holy  family 
of  God,  living  "each  for  all  and  all  for  each," 
we  shall  find  the  day  that  has  dawned 
brighten  into  a  noon-day  splendor,  in  which 
this  is  the  light  that  lighteneth  the  whole 
wide  world.  It  "shall  shine  forth  as  the 
sun"  rising  to  the  very  heights  of  the 
heavenly  zenith.  With  one's  face  toward 
this  morning  and  his  hand  to  the  plow,  never 

73 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

turning  to  look  back,  the  old  traditional  be- 
lief of  the  past  that  has  enchained  the  ages 
will  be  broken  forever,  and  we  will  be  freed 
by  the  atonement  of  the  ages,  that  makes  us 
one  with  Jesus  in  the  deathless  life.  It  is 
the  great  day  of  Jubilee  the  whole  wide  world 
looks  forward  to.  Every  man  will  go  back 
to  his  heavenly  inheritance  lost  in  "The  Fall" 
and  found  again  in  his  joint  heirship  in  the 
resurrection  and  the  ascension  of  Jesus. 

It  would  seem  almost  like  "carrying  coals 
to  Newcastle"  and  an  anti-climax  to  add  to 
what  has  been  said,  the  testimony  of  another 
equally  great  in  the  councils  of  philosophers. 
But  many  who  are  not  able  to  follow  Bergson 
have  found  a  similar  message  in  Eucken, 
who  has  equally  charmed  American  audi- 
ences, and  is  a  man  whom  the  famous  Lon- 
don preacher  Horton  calls  "the  greatest 
thinker  of  our  day." 

His  message,  in  a  word,  in  solving  the 
great  "Riddle  of  Existence,"  is  "back  to 
Vitalism."  This  he  feels  is  the  only  way  out 
of  our  gross  materialistic  darkness,  into 
true  spiritual  light.  His  words  ring  with  a 
clearness  and  reality,  and  grip  you  with  a 
power  like  the  laconic  ones  heard  through 
all  the  Christian  centuries,  "back  to  Christ" 

74 


Sought  by  Scientists  and  Philosophers 

if  we  would  get  back  to  God  and  back  to  life. 
It  is  life  that  is  at  the  heart  of  everything; 
and  not  the  imaginary  pushes  and  pulls 
which  we  have  set  up  and  have  so  long  called 
"laws"  or  force.  It  is  not  in  matter,  nor  m 
mind,  but  in  life,  that  we  are  to  find  the 
fountain  from  which  all  things  flow  forth. 
Life  is  the  last  step  from  the  material  into 
the  spiritual,  from  the  real  into  the  ideal, 
from  everything  that  is,  into  the  God  of  all 
from  which  all  things  come  forth.  The 
"Spirit  of  Life"  is  the  final  door  of  entrance 
into  the  very  Arcanum  of  the  universe,  as 
we  go  from  the  outer  court  of  world-phe- 
nomena, into  the  Most  Holy  Place  of  Reality, 
where  "spirit  mingles  with  spirit,"  and  we 
know  we  are  children  of  the  Highest. 

Eucken  comes  by  a  long  way,  but  a  sure 
way,  to  this.  It  brings  him  to  the  shrine 
spot  of  God  where  one  feels  that  man  is  the 
temple  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Most  Holy  and 
the  Most  High,  where  is  to  be  revealed  to  us 
the  full  final  message  of  the  Infinite.  Some 
place  in  the  evolution  of  humanity,  Eucken 
feels,  the  Spirit  must  reveal  itself  complete, 
else  why  this  longing  to  meet  God  face  to 
face.  By  a  way  hitherto  entirely  untrod  in 
the  philosophical  world,  he  comes  at  last  in 

75 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

the  turn  of  the  road  to  the  place  where  there 
logically  bursts  upon  one's  view,  from  all 
that  has  gone  on  before,  a  vision  indeed  most 
matchless.  It  is  akin  to  that  which  came 
to  Browning,  when  suddenly  he  exclaims 
with  all  the  glow  of  his  new-found  joy,  ''Lo, 
the  Christ  stands !"  Here  are  Eucken's  own 
words  on  the  great  discovery  of  what  seemed 
to  him  the  only  true  nexus  between  the  ma- 
terial and  the  Spiritual,  where  man  and 
God  truly  meet. 

"A  personality  like  that  of  Jesus  is  not  a 
mere  vehicle  of  doctrines  or  modes,  but  an 
everlasting  invasion  of  divine  life,  at  which 
new  life  can  be  forever  kindled.  .  .  In  him 
alone  is  found  fully  the  Life  of  the  Spirit." 

What  is  this  but  a  feeling  that  in  him  alone 
is  found  the  fire  sent  down  from  heaven  to 
kindle  anew  the  fire  of  God  that  has  so  long 
smouldered  or  gone  out  on  the  altar  of  the 
human  heart.  He  loves  to  tell  how  "religion 
is  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world,"  and  feels 
as  keenly  as  Sabatier  that  "we  are  hope- 
lessly religious."  Human  life  without  re- 
ligion as  its  crowning  glory  would  be  but 
the  torso  of  a  man,  made  in  the  image  of  his 
Maker,  to  be  filled  to  overflowing  with  his 
Spirit.  In  Christ  Jesus,  man  who  is  other- 
wise marred  and  incomplete  is  brought  forth 
as  man  made  perfect. 

76 


Sought  by  Scientists  and  Philosophers 

Eucken  does  not  state  it  in  so  many  words 
that  man  in  the  unfolding  of  God's  great 
and  gracious  plan  is  to  come  forth  with  a 
body  glorified  in  the  life  that  is  deathless, 
but  he  comes  so  breathlessly  near  this  mighty 
vision,  that  we  wonder  how  he  could  have 
possibly  missed  it.  The  "Life  of  the  Spirit" 
which  is  the  thought  throughout  all  his 
message  uppermost  must  logically  and  natur- 
ally lead  to  this. 

These  messages  of  Bergson  and  of  Eucken, 
starting  from  premises  so  diverse,  and  com- 
ing to  conclusions  so  truly  one,  make  us  feel 
most  surely  that  philosophy,  "the  queen  of 
the  sciences,"  is  bringing  man  to  see  that 
humanity  is  made  to  be  "the  queen  of 
heaven"  as  it  becomes  one  with  Christ,  as 
"the  bride  of  Christ"  in  "the  marriage  sup- 
per of  the  Lamb,"  in  whose  spirit  we  become 
kings  and  queens  unto  God  throughout  his 
mighty  universe. 

Just  as  these  words  are  written  there 
comes  even  a  bolder  testimony  from  philo- 
sophical circles,  from  Scotland,  the  land 
where  philosophy  has  always  played  a  most 
powerful  part  in  the  moulding  of  folks. 
They  are  from  a  series  of  Edinburgh  lectures 
by  Judge  Troward  on  "The  Creative  Process 

77 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

in  the  Individual."  Here  is  his  almost  start- 
ing conclusion,  as  the  truth  burns  on  the 
altar  of  his  own  heart: 

"It  is  impossible  to  reconcile  the  life- 
giving  conception  of  the  Bible  with  the  idea 
that  death  at  any  stage  or  in  any  degree  is 
the  desire  of  God.  The  whole  purpose  of 
the  Book  is  to  tell  most  emphatically  that 
death  is  not  the  will  of  God.  Scripture  and 
common  sense  alike  assure  us  that  the  will 
of  God  toward  us  is  Life  and  not  Death.  In 
the  light  of  Paul's  seer  vision,  'we  shall  not 
all  sleep,'  and  of  the  experience  of  Enoch 
'who  walked  with  God  and  was  not  for  God 
took  him';  and  of  Elijah  who  was  carried 
heavenward,  'that  he  did  not  see  death';  it 
is  clear  that  the  statement  of  physical  re- 
generation without  passing  through  death 
is  not  an  impossibility,  nor  is  it  necessary  to 
be  relegated  to  some  far-off  future.  What- 
ever any  one  else  may  say  to  the  contrary, 
the  Bible  contemplates  such  a  denoument  of 
human  evolution,  as  a  present  possibility." 

In  the  light  of  such  a  chorus  of  conviction 
of  those  highest  in  scientific  and  philosoph- 
ical circles,  it  does  seem,  as  Alfred  Noyse  has 
lately  said,  that  "there  is  an  arrow  at  the 
heart  of  Death,"  and  that  the  deathless  life 
is  the  "lost  chord"  and  the  last  chord  of 
Evolution  that  is  waiting  to  be  struck,  as 
the  most  rapturous  strain  of  heaven's  race- 
redemptive  music. 

78 


V. 

THE  HIGH  WATER  MARK  OF  RE- 
LIGION. 

All  the  world  feels  that  Jesus  reached 
the  high  water  mark  among  the  religious 
teachers  of  the  world.  All  students  of  the 
Sacred  Word  agree  that  the  high  water  mark 
in  the  popularity  of  Jesus'  career  was  when 
he  took  the  disciples  up  the  high  mountain 
side,  and  was  transfigured  before  them.  It 
was  there  that  he  revealed  for  the  first  time 
clearly  that  his  great,  full  and  final  purpose 
in  coming  into  the  world  was  to  show  that 
man  w^as  made  to  triumph  over  death  as  well 
as  all  sin  and  every  sickness. 

Three  of  his  disciples,  Peter,  James  and 
John,  the  choicest  of  the  chosen  ones,  yet  as 
diverse  in  their  make-up  as  the  three  corners 
of  a  triangle,  he  selects  from  all  the  rest,  and 
goes  with  them  to  the  highest  point  of  the 
mountain  side,  overlooking  the  loveliest  land- 
scape of  all  Palestine.  It  seems  that  all 
nature  is  to  join  in  the  thrill  of  the  great 
truth  that  he  is  to  make  known  to  them,  and 
which  is  one  of  the  most  resplendent  that 
ever  was  revealed  to  the  mind  and  heart  of 
mankind. 

79 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

He  is  going  to  show  them  the  marvelous 
message,  that  death  is  not  in  the  natural 
order  of  things.  It  is  the  unnatural  process 
of  our  going  hence  which  comes  from  the 
marring  of  the  universal  order,  as  God's 
plan  and  purpose  for  the  race  is  marred  by 
the  tragedy  of  sin. 

He  tells  the  disciples  that  he  must  go  up 
to  Jerusalem  and  be  crucified  and  buried,  but 
that  he  would  lise  again  the  third  day.  All 
of  this  was  as  clear  as  a  beam  of  sunlight 
to  himself  as  a  necessary  factor  in  restoring 
humanity  to  its  blissful  seat  of  the  death- 
less life.  But  to  the  desciples  it  was  all  a 
jargon  or  an  empty  tale.  "Their  eyes 
were  holden  that  they  could  not  see"  the  ne- 
cessity of  all  this,  and  of  course  they  pro- 
tested most  vehemently. 

Then  suddenly  there  came  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  dissolving  views  of  history.  All 
about  was  aglow  with  a  most  heavenly  light. 
Jesus  was  transfigured  before  them  in  their 
very  midst.  His  garments  shone  as  "no 
fuller  could  white."  His  face  was  radiant 
with  the  light  of  the  sun  behind  the  sun. 
Nothing  could  describe,  in  its  perfect  full- 
ness, the  glory  that  was  theirs  to  witness. 
It  seemed  as  though  Jesus  was  lifted  up  and 

80 


The  High  Water  Mm^k  of  Religion 

was  "between  two  worlds."  Into  the  midst 
of  the  holy  scene  came  Moses  and  Elias,  the 
prince  of  Israel's  lawgivers,  the  prince  of 
all  her  prophets.  These,  too,  caught  the 
glow  and  the  glory  of  all  about.  Then  Jesus 
begins  to  speak  to  them  of  his  going  hence, 
his  heavenly  exodus,  and  as  Eidersheim  says, 
of  his  "earth  exit."  They  could  understand 
something  of  the  wonderful  meaning  of  the 
words.  They  had  to  a  degree  passed  that 
holy  highway  of  which  he  spoke,  and  could 
rejoice  in  the  glory  of  it.  Moses  died  on 
Nebo.  The  Sacred  Book  says  "No  man 
knoweth  his  grave  unto  this  day."  One  of 
the  sweetest  of  the  world's  singers  has  said : 

"The  angels  of  God  upturned  the  sod 
And  laid  the  dead  man  there." 

Jewish  tradition  tells  that  he  was  carried 
hence  without  tasting  the  sorrows  of  death. 
This  groping  after  a  great  vision  of  life's 
true  exit  found  a  fuller  realization  in  the  go- 
ing hence  of  Elijah  or  Elias,  as  the  New 
Testament  puts  it.  He  was  the  prophet  most 
panoplied  with  the  power  of  heaven  to  bring 
the  message  of  redemption  to  his  nation, 
which  was  going  astray  like  lost  sheep.  He 
was  carried  hence  in  "the  chariot  of  fire," 
so  that  "he  did   not  see  death."      He  had 

81 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

found  that  the  door  of  exit  heavenward  was 
truly  a  way  of  glory  and  not  of  grief.  He 
who  was  most  like  God  found  most  fully  the 
way  to  God,  as  heaven  had  purposed  it,  and 
told  it  once  before  in  Enoch,  who  "walked 
with  God  and  was  not  for  God  took  him." 
To  these  two  most  beloved  by  all  the  Jewish 
people  and  most  honored  by  their  race, 
Jesus  can  talk  understandingly  of  the  way 
he  is  to  finally  enter  the  glories  of  Paradise. 

In  the  glow  and  glory  of  the  heaven  uplift- 
ing moment,  it  seemed  but  a  thread  still  held 
him  to  the  earth.  He  could  have  gone  hence 
like  Enoch  and  Elijah,  the  best  of  the  Jewish 
best.  Had  he  done  so,  however,  he  would 
have  accomplished  no  more  for  the  full  eman- 
cipation of  humanity  than  these  had  that 
had  gone  on  before  him  in  this  holy  highway 
to  fullnesss  of  life  and  light. 

Then  there  comes  a  change.  These  holy 
visitants  have  passed  away  and  Jesus  is  left 
alone.  And  "the  desciples  saw  Jesus  only." 
The  Eternal  Spirit  of  law  and  prophecy  is 
the  Spirit  of  Jesus.  That  which  glowed 
dimly  in  Moses  and  Elias  shone  with  perfect 
splendor  in  him  who  was  the  perfect  fulfill- 
ment of  the  incarnation  of  the  Eternal 
Spirit,  that  was  tabernacling  among  us. 

82 


The  High  Water  Mark  of  Religion 

The  disciples  were  as  foolish  in  their  de- 
sires as  they  were  blind  of  mind  and  heart 
to  the  great  purpose  of  the  revelation  that 
was  being  given  them  in  this  holy  moment. 
They  would  make  tabernacles  and  remain 
there  forever.  But  that  is  not  life's  pur- 
pose. The  voice  of  the  Father  tells  the  great 
thing  they  are  to  know,  "This  is  my  beloved 
son,  hear  ye  him."  What  he  says  about 
sin  and  disease  and  death;  what  he  says 
about  the  normal  and  natural  way  out  of  life 
is  the  thing  to  be  heeded  as  well  as  heard. 
The  Spirit  of  the  Ages  and  Eternity  is  in- 
carnate in  him.  He  who  is  the  Truth  will 
speak  the  final  word  of  truth.  Hear  ye 
him,  if  you  would  find  the  fullness  of  life's 
heavenly  purpose. 

All  has  passed  away.  Jesus  takes  his 
near  ones  down  the  mountain  side.  There 
at  the  foot  is  the  throng  wild  with  excite- 
ment. The  diciples  are  staggered  and  dis- 
couraged. They  are  trying  to  cast  the  evil 
spirit  out  of  the  demon-possessed  boy.  But 
they  find  they  are  utterly  helpless  for  the 
mighty  task.  Then  comes  Jesus  upon  the 
scene,  and  at  once  rebukes  the  unclean  spirit, 
and  it  comes  out  of  him.  The  sin-chained, 
disease-bound  child  is  made  perfect  through 
the  command  of  one  truly  Perfect. 

83 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

■  The  whole  scene  has  been  made  immortal 
by  Raphael  in  his  Transfiguration,  best 
known  of  all  he  painted,  if  not  his  best. 
There  seems  to  be  two  complete  yet  almost 
independent  pictures  painted  on  the  same 
canvas.  The  one  above  is  bathed  in  tones  and 
tints  that  have  been  impossible  to  reproduce 
ever  since  by  all  artists.  Heaven  does  indeed 
seem  to  bathe  the  scene  of  glory  with  God's 
golden  and  glory  light.  There  is  Jesus  lifted 
from  the  earth,  with  Moses  on  his  right  hand 
and  Elias  on  his  left,  in  holy  adoration  to 
him  who  was  greater  than  all  the  lawgivers 
and  the  prophets.  The  disciples  lie  stag- 
gered at  the  scene,  trying  to  lift  themselves 
from  the  earth. 

Beneath  is  another  scene  painted  in  the 
most  dead  and  somber  tints.  All  about 
seems  to  be  darkness  of  soul,  while  all 
above  is  fullness  of  heavenly  light.  The 
dumb,  demon-possessed  boy  is  there.  The 
disciples  are  helpless  to  give  him  help.  Art- 
ists, through  all  the  centuries,  have  wondered 
what  the  connection  is  between  the  scenes 
which  are  so  diverse.  But  there  is  a 
most  wonderful  connection  between  the  two. 
It  is  a  soul  uniting,  a  psychological  union,  as 
we  today  would  put  it.      The  face  of  the 

84 


The  High  Water  Mark  of  Religion 

dumb,  damned  boy  is  gazing  wildly  up  the 
mountain  side.  Out  of  his  weird,  wild  look 
he  seems  to  be  beholding  something  afar  off. 
As  one  follows  the  line  of  strange  vision,  he 
finds  it  falls  directly  upon  the  face  of  the 
far  away,  heaven  transfigured  Christ.  He 
was  not  visible  to  the  mortal  eye  about,  but 
the  eye  of  the  utterly  helpless  child  seems 
to  have  caught,  by  psychic  instinct,  the 
vision  of  him  who  is  afar  off,  as  his  only  and 
everlasting  help. 

Here  is  the  whole  summary  of  the  great 
vision.  Jesus  had  already  found  the  true 
door  of  exit  from  this  life  into  the  fullness 
of  life.  It  was  the  door  closed  by  sin  and  to  be 
opened  again  through  his  perfect  righteous- 
ness as  the  true  exit  heavenward  of  the  race. 
It  was  the  door  of  the  deathless  life.  Jesus 
was  the  door,  and  through  him  by  the  power 
of  the  Eternal  Spirit  we  are  made  to  go 
hence  this  heavenly  highway  Godward  as 
planned  in  creation's  morn,  and  as  the  great 
all-loving  race  purpose.  He  came  to  make 
clear  that  what  we  call  natural  death  was 
the  most  unnatural  thing  in  the  world,  as 
God  had  planned  all  nature  in  its  perfectness. 
This  is  the  vision  that  lifts  one  above  the 
world,  and  bathes  the  soul  in  the  glory  of 

85 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

all  worlds.  This  is  "the  vision  glorious" 
that  will  give  power  to  touch  all  wrong 
things  and  make  them  right.  It  was  in  the 
power  of  his  mighty  vision  that  Christ  could 
go  down  from  the  mountain  side  and  heal 
the  unhealed,  and  unhealable  by  any  other 
power  than  by  a  life's  vision  like  this.  The 
disciples  had  never  caught  this  glow  of  the 
glory  purpose,  and  so  found  their  limita- 
tions for  earth  help,  although  they  had  been 
given  power  to  heal  diseases  and  cast  out 
demons  and  raise  the  dead,  as  Jesus  had 
given  it. 

From  this  high  water  mark  in  the  experi- 
ence of  Jesus  one  finds,  as  nowhere  else, 
the  great  vision  of  life  that  will  truly  guide 
the  race  feet  aright  into  the  perfect  fullness 
of  creation's  purpose.  We  are  to  see  the 
door  of  exit  of  life  is  not  through  the  tomb. 
Jesus  was  to  clearly  demonstrate  this  and 
did  demonstrate  it.  He  was  to  enter  the 
tomb  only  to  carry  off  in  triumph  the  very 
gates  of  death,  and  abolish  it  forever  as  a 
power  over  which  man  was  to  be  power- 
less. This  is  the  vision  of  the  life  that 
panoplies  one  with  the  power  from  on  high. 
This  is  not  the  vision  ecstatic  we  are  to 
forever  dwell  in,  any  more  than  the  disciples 
were  to  make  tabernacles  and   dwell  with 

86 


The  High  Water  Mark  of  Religion 

Jesus,  Moses  and  Elias  on  the  mountain  side. 
It  is  a  vision  that  makes  us  go  down  into 
the  very  stress  and  strain  of  life,  to  help 
the  helpless.  It  is  a  vision  to  give  us  power 
to  cast  out  demons  and  heal  the  sick.  All 
this  is  to  be  done  by  making  men  feel  the 
way  of  Glory  is  the  deathless  life  as  truly  as 
the  diseaseless  life  and  the  sinless  life.  If 
we  see  Jesus  only  as  our  sole  ideal  of  what 
it  is  to  be  led  of  the  Spirit;  if  we  will  be- 
lieve that  the  power  of  the  Eternal  Spirit 
is  in  us  as  it  was  in  him,  making  one 
greater  than  all  the  lawgivers  and  all  the 
prophets;  if  we  believe  that  the  spirit  of 
life  is  the  spirit  of  all  law  and  all  prophecy, 
and  that  we  can  boldly  "in  his  name"  go 
forth,  we  may  meet  the  enemy  of  sin  and 
sickness  and  death  on  every  hand  and  will 
come  off  more  than  conqueror  over  their 
power.  We  will  thus  blaze  the  way  of  glory 
through  a  life  of  darkness  into  the  glory  of 
his  marvelous  sinless,  sickless  and  deathless 
life  as  God's  full,  free  gift  to  humanity 
through  Jesus  Christ. 

So  it  has  come  to  be  seen  in  this  mighty 
mountain  side  experience  that  the  message 
to  the  ages  is  that  we  are  not  to  believe  in 
the  deathless  life  as  some  mere  dogma.  This 
belief  is  to  give  one  "power  from  on  high" 

87 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

to  be  about  God's  great  complete  redemptive 
world  work  as  Jesus  foregleamed  it,  and  said 
forever,  this  is  the  way  of  life,  walk  ye  in  it. 

Christendom  seems  practically  almost  as 
dead  and  dazed  to  this  mighty  vision  of  the 
Transfiguration  as  the  disciples  that  Jesus 
led  high  up  on  the  mountain  side  that  they 
might  enter  more  fully  into  the  wonders  and 
glories  of  life's  full  and  final  purpose.  But 
it  is  the  vision  of  all  visions  that  must 
possess  one  if  he  walks  close  to  him  whose 
message  is  to  transform  the  earth,  and  trans- 
figure all  things  with  the  glory  of  the  High- 
est. It  is  not  a  mere  academic  truth  to  be 
assented  to.  It  is  the  most  vital  truth  that 
is  to  grip  the  soul.  It  must  become  real  to 
us  by  faith,  that  we  may  be  joint  heirs  with 
Jesus  in  his  great  life  program  for  the  com- 
plete redemption  of  the  race. 

It  is  the  high  water  mark  of  all  religion. 
It  is  the  crowning  glory  of  the  message  of 
the  great  Evangel  to  be  proclaimed  through- 
out the  whole  wide  earth.  It  is  the  stone 
which  the  earth  builders  are  still  rejecting 
which  is  bound  to  become  "the  head  of  the 
corner"  in  the  great  temple  of  the  Everlast- 
ing Truth.  It  is  the  closing  and  most  rap- 
turous strain  of  the  Oratorio  of  the  Messiah 
as  God  alone  by  his  Spirit  has  written  the 
strains  of  the  world's  halleluliah  music. 
88 


VI. 
THE  HOLY  COMMUNION  REALIZED. 

As  the  Paschal  feast  was  the  most  sacred 
symbol  of  Judaism,  so  the  Lord's  Supper, 
the  fulfillment  of  the  Passover  is  the  most 
sacred  ceremony  of  Christendom.  "The 
night  on  which  he  was  betrayed" — the  night 
the  world  proved  traitor  to  the  eternal 
Truth  of  God — Christ  instituted  a  feast  to 
to  be  celebrated  to  the  end  of  time.  It  was 
to  be  observed  in  remembrance  of  the  Re- 
deemer's work  as  Saviour  of  men,  for  which 
he  poured  out  his  life  unto  death  for  the 
sins  of  the  world. 

The  Passover,  as  all  know,  faced  time  both 
ways.  It  was  first  a  looking  backward  in 
memory  to  the  great  Egyptian  deliverance. 
But  it  is  much  more  a  looking  forward  to 
the  universal  deliverance,  when  the  Mes- 
siah should  come  to  forever  redeem  all 
Israel. 

So  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  feast  that 
Janus-like  was  meant  to  face  both  ways.  It 
was  first  to  be  a  looking  backward  to  that 
dreadful  night  on  which  He  was  betrayed, 
who  was  to  offer  himself  a  living  sacrifice 

89 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

for  the  sins  of  the  world.  It  was  also  a 
looking  forward  to  that  holier  moment  when 
somehow  "he  should  come  again,"  and 
every  enemy  should  be  forever  put  under  his 
feet,  and  under  the  feet  of  every  follower  of 
the  Lord  of  Life.  All  should  join  with  him 
in  the  great  song  of  deliverance,  and  the  joy 
of  the  everlasting  triumph.  Death  and 
Hades,  as  well  as  sin  and  sickness,  were  to 
go  down  in  the  great  conflict,  when  both 
the  redeemed  and  the  Redeemer  would  be 
overcomers  together,  and  complete  liberty 
would  be  proclaimed  throughout  all  the 
world. 

To  most  who  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper, 
this  forward  look  seems  the  one  divine 
event  so  far  off  that  the  backward  look  is  the 
one  most  dwelt  upon  in  the  sacred  celebra- 
tion of  the  New  Passover.  But  he  that  puts 
his  hand  to  the  plow  and  looks  back  is  never 
so  unfit  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  he  is 
when  he  thus  celebrates  Christendom's  feast 
of  feasts.  It  is  not  so  much  the  Lord's  tragic 
death  as  our  deliverance  from  death  and  the 
grave  through  Christ's  eternal  triumph  that 
is  to  be  the  thought  that  is  to  be  held  ever 
uppermost.  It  is  this  which  makes  the  Lord's 
Supper  a  veritable  'Move  feast."      Without 

90 


The  Lord's  Supper  Realized 

this  emphasis,  it  becomes  more  and  more  just 
the  opposite. 

We  all  recall  the  sad  confession  of  Emer- 
son when  he  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper 
for  the  last  time.  The  Holy  Eucharist  had 
come  to  him  to  be  but  a  hollow  mockery. 
Only  the  skeleton  of  the  deep  truth  that  once 
filled  it  with  glory  now  remained.  The 
heavenly  life  of  the  sacred  service  had  for- 
ever flown.  So  has  it  become  to  tens  of 
thousands  who  have  kept  ever  "looking  back- 
ward" in  place  of  forward  at  this  great 
memorial  hour.  If  the  sacred  feast  is  to  be  at 
all  what  it  was  intended  to  be  in  its  institu- 
tion, a  place  of  joy  and  power;  if  the  cere- 
mony is  to  be  one  to  thrill  the  heart  with  the 
fire  of  heaven,  that  will  count  no  sacrifice 
for  humanity  too  great  a  service;  if  it  is 
going  to  thrill  the  soul  with  a  beauty  beyond 
an  angel's  dream,  we  must  keep  our  face 
toward  the  morning  of  the  new  day  of  de- 
liverance that  it  ushers  in.  It  is  not  in 
turning  to  the  past  but  to  the  future  that 
makes  Calvary  sublime.  It  is  not  in  re- 
counting the  tragedy  of  the  cross,  though  it 
makes  angels  weep,  but  in  beholding  by  faith 
what  the  death  and  resurrection  has  be- 
queathed to  the  believer's  soul,  that  brings 

91 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

a  Pentecostal  power.  Christ  died  for  men, 
to  show  us  that  man  7ieed  never  die.  He 
died  for  me  that  I  might  pass  from  death 
into  eternal  life.  He  died  that  death,  like 
sin  and  sickness,  may  have  no  more  power 
over  me  forever.  He  nailed  my  death,  as 
part  of  all  my  sins,  to  the  cross;  so  that  I 
may  reckon  myself  as  dead  to  death  as  to 
sin,  and  alive  forever  in  his  eternal  life  and 
everlasting  righteousness.  This  is  not  too 
big  to  be  believed  or  too  good  to  be  true.  It 
is  the  truth  which  is  the  torch  to  light  all 
Christendom,  to  guide  the  feet  of  the  "Pil- 
grim Faithful,"  till  they  shall  enter  into  the 
full  joy  of  their  Lord  in  the  eternal  triumph. 
Faith  in  this  is  what  makes  the  holy  feast  a 
memorial  of  his  love  and  power,  and  a 
thanksgiving  for  a  day  of  complete  deliver- 
ance, offered  without  money  and  without 
price  to  all  men  everywhere,  if  by  faith  they 
will  take  of  this  priceless  gift  of  God. 

The  one  thought  perhaps,  which  is  a  kind 
of  trigger  to  the  soul  to  set  free  the  heavenly 
dynamic  with  its  almighty  power,  is  best 
told  in  these  words.  Surely  Jesus  had  it 
in  mind  as  he  uttered  them,  when  he  com- 
manded the  keeping  of  the  feast  to  "show 
the  Lord's  death  until  he  come." 

92 


The  Lord's  Supper  Realized 

Doubtless  Christ  meant  that  we  should 
proclaim  through  this  ceremony  to  the  world 
that  we  believed  in  the  awful  tragedy  of 
history  that  Calvary  records,  and  that  we 
shudder  for  humanity  that  it  has  so  missed 
the  meaning  of  the  gift  of  God's  Only  Be- 
gotten Son,  that  it  put  him  to  such  an  open 
shame.  This  is  a  historic  fact  that  we  must 
naturally  ever  recall.  It  is  the  concrete 
putting  of  Christ's  purpose  for  us  in  the 
world.  But  there  is  something  infinitely 
more  sublime  than  that  one  died  such  an 
ignominious  death  and  rose  again.  To  catch 
the  fullness  of  the  great  communion  is  to 
believe  that  I  am  in  common  union  with  him 
by  faith  in  the  indwelling  of  the  Eternal 
Spirit.  If  I  only  believe  this,  I  may  realize 
the  glories  of  the  first  resurrection  with 
him,  as  truly  as  the  glories  of  his  eter- 
nal life  forevermore.  The  crux  of  the  cru- 
cifixion is  that  I  am  to  reckon  myself  as 
dead  to  death  as  Jesus  is.  The  Spirit  of 
Life  is  given  for  no  other  purpose  than 
to  make  me  become  joint  heir  with  Jesus 
in  his  heavenly  inheritance.  The  trinity 
of  darkness,  sin,  sickness  and  death  may 
beat  upon  me,  but  they  can  never  overcome 
me.     In  him  there  is  fullness  of  the  divine 

93 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

life  forever  more.  My  pathway  henceforth 
is  not  a  via  dolorosa,  but  a  via  gloria — a  way 
of  glory.  Calvary  no  longer  is  to  be  the 
route  of  the  redeemed  walking  heavenward. 
Our  tomb  is  to  be  as  empty  as  was  that  of 
the  Resurrection  morn.  Earth's  aches  and 
"God's  Acre"  are  for  us  done  away  with  for- 
ever, if  we  will  only  believe  that  we  shall 
not  come  into  judgment  of  sin  and  sickness 
and  death.  They  are  downed  and  doomed 
forever  in  the  life  of  the  believer,  if  he  will 
only  reckon  himself  as  dead  to  each  and  all, 
as  Jesus  who  triumphed  over  them  and  came 
off  more  than  conqueror. 

Life  takes  on  an  entirely  new  meaning 
when  we  live  in  a  faith  like  this.  It  is  the 
faith  once  for  all  delivered  unto  us  in  Christ 
Jesus.  It  is  the  faith  that  will  deliver  us 
forever  from  sin,  and  sickness,  and  death 
and  the  grave.  Then  there  is  the  complete 
redemption.  The  whole  man  in  body,  mind 
and  heart  has  been  redeemed  by  the  grace 
of  God,  through  faith,  that  Jesus  has 
taken  all  out  of  the  way.  As  by  faith  I  walk 
in  the  power  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  God  does 
this  completed  work  of  the  Eternal  in  me. 

This  faith  makes  one  wear  the  seamless 
robe  of  Christ's  perfect  righteousness.     The 

94 


The  Lord's  Supper-  Realized 

outer  garments  of  the  creeds  and  schools  are 
as  nothing  in  comparison  with  this  vesture 
of  heaven  with  which  we  are  "clothed  upon" 
by  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered  by  the 
Spirit  of  Jesus  unto  all. 

This  is  the  torch-light  of  Christendom  that 
shines  so  brightly  that  it  will  lighten  up  the 
whole  wide  earth.  The  whole  creation  is 
waiting  for  it.  They  who  sit  in  darkness 
will  see  this  great  light,  and  will  some  day 
make  the  whole  wide  world  resound  with  its 
halleluliah  music.  All  men  will  sing  the 
song  that  the  angels  sang  over  Bethlehem's 
hills,  when  Christ  was  born.  This  makes 
the  true  glory  and  full  glory  to  God  in  the 
highest.  This  brings  on  earth  a  peace  and 
a  good  will  to  men.  This  makes  all  men  see 
how  they  are  to  be  redeemed  in  the  blood 
and  life  of  the  great  Redeemer.  He  was  in- 
deed the  one  who  shows  the  way  of  God,  and 
says  ever,  "This  is  the  way  of  faith,  walk  ye 
in  it." 

Jesus  most  certainly  had  this  vision  in  his 
heart  as  he  rose  from  supper  and  took  the 
"cup  after  supper,"  the  "Elijah's  cup."  As 
we  saw  in  a  former  chapter,  it  was  the  cup  of 
the  deathless  life,  which  could  only  be  drunk 
when  Elijah  who  never  died  should  return 

95 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

and  drink  thereof  himself ;  and  then  give  to 
others  that  they  too  might  drink  of  this 
"nectar  of  God"  and  be  among  the  deathless 
also. 

Jesus  rises  from  supper  and  takes  the 
Elijah's  cup  and  drinks  thereof  himself, 
though  it  was  at  the  penalty  of  death  as  his 
people  had  proclaimed  it.  Then  he  hands  it 
to  his  disciples  and  says,  "Drink  ye  all  of  it." 
This  is  the  cup  of  the  new  covenant  in  my 
blood — in  my  deathless  life — drink  ye  all  of 
it.  This  was  to  make  them  the  immortals 
also,  if  they  would  only  believe  the  words 
which  he  spake  unto  them,  that  "whosoever 
liveth  and  believeth  on  me  shall  never  die, 
but  is  passed  from  death  unto  life." 

Coming  to  the  Holy  Communion  with  such 
a  looking  forward  to  the  realization  "of  the 
divine  purpose  for  us  as  we  are  with  Christ 
led  of  the  Spirit,  the  holy  communion,  the 
holy  common  union  of  Christ  with  the  race 
of  believers,  is  realized.  By  it  we  feel  we 
have  already  entered  with  him  into  the 
power  of  his  deathless  life.  We  are  tarry- 
ing but  to  divinely  demonstrate  it,  as  God's 
crowning  love  purpose  in  Jesus  for  the  race. 


96 


VII. 
THE  LAST  RACE  ENEMY  OURS. 

When  Lincoln  was  first  in  New  Orleans, 
where  he  had  towed  a  raft  of  goods  in  his 
early  days,  he  saw  the  awfulness  of  the 
slave  trade.  Wives  were  being  torn  from 
their  husbands;  little  ones  were  being 
snatched  from  their  mothers'  breasts  to  be 
separated  forever ;  human  beings  were  being 
sold  like  chattels,  regardless  of  the  ties  of 
kinship  and  of  love.  The  righteous  indig- 
nation of  the  great  Messiah  of  liberty  was 
heated  "seven  times  hot,"  at  the  fearful 
sight,  and  he  exclaimed  in  words  the  world 
will  never  forget :  "If  I  ever  get  a  chance  to 
hit  that  thing,  I  will  hit  it  hard."  The 
chance  came  and  the  opportunity  was  fear- 
lessly grasped.  In  the  great  Emancipation 
Proclamation  he  struck  forever  the  shackels 
from  the  dusky  race  and  sounded  thereby 
a  message  that  has  resounded  throughout  the 
earth  in  bringing  liberty  to  all  enslaved 
folks. 

Jesus,  the  Messiah,  is  the  author  of  a  far 
larger  race  liberty,  than  the  freeing  of  the 
black  man  ever  brought  to  us.  He  saw  the 
awful  thralldom  the  whole  wide  world  was 

97 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

under.  He  saw  the  depths  of  sin  and 
the  pangs  of  sickness  all  about.  Above  all 
else  he  saw  those  "who  in  fear  of  death  all 
their  lives,  were  subject  to  bondage."  No 
slave  driver  was  ever  half  so  cruel  a  task- 
master as  the  fear  of  these  calamities  from 
which  it  was  thought  none  could  ever  escape. 

The  Chorus  in  the  Antigone  of  Sophocles 
tells  the  race  wide  conviction  of  the  help- 
lessness and  hopelessness  of  man  in  the  face 
of  death,  the  last  race  enemy  we  have  to 
meet. 

"Wonders  are  many,  and  none  is  more 
wonderful  than  man ;  the  power  that  crosses 
the  white  sea,  driven  by  the  stormy  south 
wind,  making  a  path  under  surges  that 
threaten  to  engulf  him ;  and  Earth,  the  eld- 
est of  the  gods,  the  immortal  and  the  un- 
wearied, doth  he  wear,  turning  the  soil  with 
the  offspring  of  horses,  as  the  plow  goes  to 
and  fro  from  year  to  year.  And  the  light- 
hearted  race  of  birds,  and  the  tribes  of 
savage  beasts,  and  the  sea  brood  of  the  deep, 
he  snares  in  the  meshes  of  his  woven  toils, 
he  leads  captive — man  excellent  in  wit !  And 
he  masters  by  his  arts  the  beast  whose  lair 
is  in  the  wilds,  who  roams  the  hills;  he 
tames  the  horse  of  shaggy  mane;  he  puts 
the  yoke  upon  its  neck,  he  tames  the  tireless 
mountain  bull.  And  speech,  and  wind-swift 
thought,   and   all   the   moods   and   molds   of 

98 


The  Last  Race  Enemy  Ours 

state,  hath  he  taught  himself;  and  how  to 
flee  the  arrows  of  the  frost,  when  'tis  hard 
lodging  under  the  clear  sky,  and  the  arrows 
of  the  rushing  rain ;  yea,  he  hath  resource 
for  all;  without  resource  he  meets  nothing 
that  must  come:  07ily  against  Death  shall 
he  call  for  aid  in  vain." 

It  is  this  creed  of  creation  that  Jesus 
came  to  supplant  by  one  that  transcends  it, 
as  far  as  the  heavens  are  above  the  earth. 
He  came  to  wipe  out  death,  the  last  great 
race  enemy  forever.  He  did  it  in  his  own 
person.  He  has  purposed  to  do  it  in  the  lives 
of  all  who  enter  into  the  fullness  of  his  fel- 
lowship. This  he  is  going  to  do  by  substi- 
tuting an  indwelling  spirit  of  life  as  our 
guidance,  in  place  of  an  external  code  of 
duty,  to  direct.  This  is  not  to  destroy  the 
law,  but  to  fulfill  the  law,  in  those  who  walk 
not  after  the  Law  but  after  the  Spirit.  God 
in  Jesus  revealed  his  full  purpose  for  all 
humanity.  We  could  see  it  in  him  drawn 
out  in  living  character.  As  we  behold  him 
in  all  his  beauty,  we  feel  that  he  is  indeed 
"the  one  altogether  lovely"  and  the  one  that 
we  know  we  are  made  to  be  like  and  must 
be  like,  if  we  are  ever  to  become  holy  as  God 
is  holy,  and  perfect  as  the  Father  in  heaven 
is  perfect. 

99 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

As  men  look  upon  Jesus  they  feel  that 
there  must  be  some  kind  of  heavenly  nexus 
possible  between  him  and  each  child  of 
humanity,  by  which  there  would  be  some 
heavenly  dissolving  view,  through  which  sin 
with  its  awful  consequences  would  ever  go 
and  in  its  place  would  come  forth  the  full 
beauty  of  holiness  witnessed  in  him,  who 
was  truly  God  with  us. 

In  Deuteronomy  it  is  said  when  Moses, 
the  great  lawgiver,  is  about  to  go  hence,  he 
gathers  the  people  upon  the  mountain  side. 
He  tells  them  the  glories  of  the  Law,  and 
that  if  they  do  these  commandments  of  God 
they  shall  forever  live.  If  they  do  not,  there 
is  nothing  but  death  to  follow  in  the  wake 
for  all.  Then  he  adds  the  greater  words: 
"Say  not  in  thy  heart  who  shall  go  into  the 
heavens  to  bring  the  Law  down,  or  who 
shall  go  over  the  sea  to  bring  the  Law  unto 
us.  But  what  saith  it,  the  Law  is  nigh 
thee,  even  in  thy  mouth."  If  there  should  be 
an  abandonment  of  life  in  faith  to  the 
Almighty  as  Abraham,  the  Father  of 
the  Chosen  People,  walked  by  this  blessed 
guidance,  they  would  do  the  law  as  instinc- 
tively as  the  birds  sing  and  the  flowers 
bloom  and  send  forth  their  fragrance.      The 

100 


The  Last  Race  Enemy  Ours 

key  into  the  kingdom,  Moses  thus  said,  was 
being  led  of  the  Spirit. 

When  Paul  comes  to  make  his  great  sum- 
mary in  Romans,  which  is  the  greatest 
system  of  theology  Christendom  has  called 
forth,  he  takes  up  this  parting  message  of 
the  great  lawgiver,  and  makes  it  more 
mighty  as  it  is  revealed  in  the  life  of  one 
who  was  "greater  than  Moses."  Paul  feels 
that  the  Eternal  Spirit  of  life  that  formu- 
lated the  law  was  the  Eternal  Spirit  of  life 
that  found  its  perfect  expression  in  the 
Christ.  Then  he  speaks  of  the  great  Guide 
of  life  who  was  to  take  the  place  of  the 
external  law:  "Say  not  in  thy  heart  who 
shall  ascend  into  the  heaven  to  bring  Christ 
down,  or  who  shall  descend  into  the  depth  to 
bring  Christ  from  the  dead,  but  what  saith 
it.  The  Word — the  Law  incarnate — the  liv- 
ing Word  that  God  sent  as  his  perfect  will 
to  us,  revealing  it  in  the  power  of  the  Eternal 
Spirit — he  is  nigh  thee  even  in  thy  mouth. 
If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  Jesus 
as  Lord — say  that  he  is  the  Immanuel  ac- 
tually God  with  us,  and  believe  in  thy  heart 
that  God  raised  him  from  the  dead,  thou 
shalt  be  saved."  What  a  summary  is  this! 
It  is  a  confession  that  the  Eternal  Spirit  of 

101 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

God  which  was  in  Christ  is  the  Spirit  of  God 
in  us,  and  that  as  we  confess  that  this  Spirit 
finds  its  final  and  fullest  triumph  over 
death,  the  last  enemy  of  the  race,  we  shall 
be  saved  also  into  the  fullness  of  salvation 
that  the  Redeemer  has  brought  to  us. 

But  up  to  this  time  the  church  has  been 
simply  placing  the  emphasis  on  the  fact  of 
Christ's  being  raised  from  the  dead,  through 
the  power  of  the  Eternal  Spirit,  and  has  al- 
most totally  failed  to  grasp  the  mighty  in- 
ference and  everlasting  therefore  that  God 
wants  us  to  draw  from  it,  that  the  Spirit  of 
life  that  raised  Christ  from  the  dead  dwells 
in  us  to  lift  us  into  the  same  almighty 
triumph  also. 

This  was  the  fact  that  bore  down  hard 
upon  the  heart  of  Paul.  This  is  what  made 
him  feel  that  he  wanted  not  to  speak  of 
knowing  "Christ  after  the  flesh"  but  after 
the  Spirit.  This  is  what  made  him  glory 
in  the  Christ  within  him.  The  Spirit  of  the 
Almighty  which  one  possesses  by  his  very 
creation  Paul  felt  could  be  set  free  and 
bring  forth  its  triumphant  fruit  through 
faith,  as  it  brought  this  forth  in  Jesus.  This 
made  him  feel  that  we  are  to  have  part  with 
Christ  in  his  resurrection  and  that  we  were 

102 


The  Last  Race  Enemy  Ours 

not  to  be  "unclothed  but  clothed  upon  with 
our  house  from  on  high."  It  was  a  feeling 
that  if  men  only  abandoned  themselves  to 
the  guidance  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  of  Life, 
they  would  have  to  unfold  like  unto  the 
Christ,  the  first  fruit  of  the  perfect,  heavenly 
harvest.  This  made  him  "preach  Jesus 
and  the  resurrection."  It  made  him  feel 
if  we  are  buried  with  him  in  baptism,  we 
would  be  raised  with  him  in  glory;  and  the 
full  glory  would  be  the  glorifying  of  God  in 
our  bodies  and  our  spirits,  as  Jesus  glori- 
fied him  thus  by  his  resurrection. 

With  such  a  conception  of  the  indwelling 
Spirit  of  Jesus,  one  must  feel  that  the  "sweet 
reasonableness,"  the  all  powerful  "there- 
fore" that  must  come  as  the  inevitable  con- 
clusion of  the  plan  of  God  in  our  creation  is 
that  we  be  as  triumphant  over  sin  and  sick- 
ness and  death  as  was  Jesus,  "the  express 
image  of  the  Father's  glory"  and  the  ex- 
press image  of  the  Father's  race  purpose. 
That  is  the  conclusion  that  we  must  make 
by  faith.  As  soon  as  we  do,  then  we  no 
longer  will  join  with  the  Chorus  of  the  An- 
tigone of  Sophocles — "against  death  shall  we 
call  for  aid  in  vain."  We  will  join  in  the 
eternal  triumph  song  of  Paul,  as  he  caught 

103 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

it  from  the  life  and  resurrection  of  his  Lord, 
"Oh  death,  where  is  thy  sting,  Oh  grave, 
where  is  thy  victory?"  Faith  that  God  is 
within  us,  as  willing  and  ready  and  able  to 
bring  this  glory  about  in  us  as  in  Jesus,  will 
hasten  the  day  of  the  great  deliverance. 
We  will  then  enter  into  the  fullness  of  our 
purchased  possessions.  We  will  have  known 
"the  power  of  his  resurrection"  and  that 
he  is  within  us  the  hope  of  this  glory  to  be 
actually  realized.  We  will  live  every  moment 
waiting  for  the  adoption  of  the  new  life 
which  is  ours,  and  we  will  at  some  moment 
least  expected  enter  into  the  fullness  of  it. 
But  we  are  to  count  the  work  done.  We  are 
to  believe  that  this  is  our  birthright,  and 
that  Jesus  is  the  one  who  clearly  shows  us 
that  it  is.  This  is  the  new  day  and  the  true 
day  that  is  dawning  fast.  The  morning 
star  of  it  is  rising  already  with  healing  in 
its  wings,  proclaiming  it.  It  is  what  may 
be  called  the  "third  day"  of  Christendom. 
The  first  day  was  when  men  lived  by  the 
hope  of  His  coming,  and  walked  by  the  law 
of  Sinai,  till  he  should  reveal  the  perfect 
life  in  the  person  of  the  Messiah  to  us.  The 
second  day  is  when  he  came  in  person  and 
tabernacled    among    us.       "We    beheld    his 

104 


The  Last  Race  Enemy  Ours 

glory,  the  glory  of  the  Only  Begotten  full  of 
grace  and  truth."  It  is  the  day  of  the  his- 
toric and  the  objective  Christ.  All  Chris- 
tendom has  been  walking  largely  in  the  light 
of  the  person  of  Jesus  more  than  the  Spirit 
of  Jesus  ever  since.  We  have  studied  the 
story  of  his  life  more  than  we  have  walked 
by  the  faith  of  his  indwelling  Spirit.  To  be 
sure  this  latter  has  been  tacitly  professed. 
But  we  have  put  up  an  external  character 
to  be  conformed  to  by  the  power  of  imitation 
largely.  As  a  result,  we  have  gotten  almost 
as  much  in  the  mire  and  darkness  of  religion 
as  were  the  Jews  before  the  coming  of  Jesus. 
But  now  a  new  day  is  dawning.  It  is  to 
be  greater  by  far  than  that  of  the  Reforma- 
tion or  even  the  first  coming  of  Jesus.  It 
is  his  coming  by  faith  in  the  power  of 
Christ's  indwelling  Spirit,  which  is  God's 
Eternal  Spirit.  It  is  a  believing  that  he  is 
within  us  thus  the  hope  of  our  everlasting 
glory.  We  are  to  be  led  by  this  Spirit,  and 
not  by  attempts  at  conformity  to  an  exter- 
nal code  or  an  external  character.  This  is 
the  glorious  life  of  freedom.  It  is  the 
liberty  of  the  Spirit.  It  means  that  we  are 
to  appropriate  to  ourselves  all  the  work  of 
the  Spirit  as  it  is  exhibited,  wrought  out  in 

105 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

Jesus.  By  this  we  are  led  from  moment  to 
moment  as  by  a  heavenly  instinct.  By  this 
we  shall  triumph  over  everything  we  have 
to  face.  Death  will  go  down  with  all  the 
other  race  enemies.  We  are  to  be  dead  to 
death  in  the  eternal  life  of  the  deathless 
Spirit  of  Christ  Jesus. 

Here  is  the  heavenly  nexus  between  Christ 
and  the  believer  God  showed  by  his  Son 
in  the  sense-world  in  which  we  live,  as  his 
eternal  all-loving  purpose  for  us.  If  we  will 
believe  He  is  within  us,  working  both  to 
will  and  to  do  this  glorious  purpose,  he  will 
bring  us  off  more  than  conquerors.  We  will 
be  living  witnesses  of  the  resurrection  as 
wonderfully  as  was  our  forerunner,  Christ 
Jesus.  This  makes  death,  the  last  race 
enemy,  ours;  and  we  will  rejoice  to  tell  to 
all  the  world  that  if  they  shall  only  believe 
they  shall  see  realized  in  themselves  also  this 
glory  of  God  in  the  life  of  the  Spirit, 

This  is  preaching  unto  men  "Jesus  and  the 
resurrection"  in  such  a  way  that  they  will 
feel  the  power  of  the  endless  life  quickening 
their  mortal  bodies.  They  shall  feel  the 
power  of  the  mighty  overcoming  of  the 
Spirit,  and  that  they  are  one  with  the  Eter- 
nal Christ  in  the  Eternal  Life,  which  is  the 
gift  of  God  to  every  one  that  believeth. 

106 


The  Last  Race  Enemy  Ours 

If  one  will  just  live  by  this  faith,  he  will 
be  truly  one  with  Christ  in  the  just  made 
perfect.  He  will  fulfill  the  works  of  the  law 
and  be  made  over  into  the  full  likeness  of 
Jesus,  both  in  his  humiliation  and  his  resur- 
rection. 

Thus  we  see  how  Christ  came  to  hit  death ; 
and  he  hit  it  hard.  Calvary  was  the  place 
where  was  read  the  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion from  it  forever,  to  those  who  believe. 
For  twenty  years  after  the  Civil  War  many 
of  the  colored  people  in  the  back  mountain 
districts  of  the  South  still  felt  that  they  were 
enslaved.  They  could  not  realize  that  their 
slave  shackels  had  been  broken  for  ever- 
more. The  great  throng  of  God's  people 
are  still  living  in  utter  ignorance  of  the 
great  fact  that  they  are  freed  from  death 
and  the  grave,  and  that  Christ  on  Golgotha 
and  the  first  Easter  morning  hath  pro- 
claimed their  freedom  from  the  death  slavery 
in  which  the  race  has  ever  been  held. 
Faith  alone  is  the  victory  to  overcome  the 
death  delusion  of  the  ages  and  make  us  re- 
alize that  we  are  to  stand  fast  forever  in 
the  liberty  from  death  and  the  grave  as  from 
all  sin  and  sickness, — the  liberty  with  which 
Christ  hath  forever  set  us  free. 

107 


VIII. 
"PARADISE   REGAINED." 

Ruskin,  in  speaking  of  Michael  Angelo's 
"Paradise,"  says,  "It  is  the  largest  picture 
in  the  world,  and  without  question  the  most 
thoughtful  and  most  precious  too.  I  have 
no  hesitancy  in  asserting  this  picture  is  by 
far  the  most  precious  work  of  art  of  any 
kind  whatsoever,  now  existing  in  the  whole 
wide  world." 

Paradise  is  the  greatest  theme  that  has 
ever  ravished  the  heart  of  man.  All  peoples 
and  kindred  and  tribes  have  dreamed  their 
Paradises,  which  have  been  like  a  holy  halo 
around  the  throne  of  their  gods,  that  have 
inspired  men  on  earth  to  nobler  deeds,  and 
drawn  them  with  the  cords  of  both  love  and 
fear  ever  heavenward. 

It  has  also  ever  given  to  artists  and  seers 
their  greatest  inspiration,  and  made  them 
sing  epics  and  songs  immortal,  as  nothing 
else  possibly  could  or  has.  It  was  music  to 
the  ear  of  Dante,  that  made  him  write  the 
divine  dream  and  drama  of  the  Middle  Ages 
in  the  Inferno.  It  was  the  holy  vision  that 
burned  in  the  heart  of  Milton,  that  brought 

108 


"Paradise  Regained" 

forth  the  matchless  epics  of  Paradise  Lost 
and  Paradise  Regained.  It  has  ever  made 
men  feel  that  there  must  be  a  New  Heaven 
and  a  New  Earth,  for  such  dreams  of  nations 
must  come  true. 

Above  all  else  it  is  the  mighty  glory  vision 
that  opens  the  Bible,  the  book  of  the  ages, 
and  closes  the  sacred  pages  with  a  rapture 
that  has  surpassed  all  visions  of  heavenly 
things  that  have  ravished  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  men. 

All  peoples  feel  there  is  a  glory  that  has 
departed  from  the  earth,  and  that  the  great 
work  of  religion  is  to  bring  men  out  of  their 
Paradise  Lost  into  a  Paradise  Regained. 

Nothing  has  been  so  disappointing  as  the 
attempts  in  sacred  services  and  sacred  songs 
to  tell  how  this  return  to  the  life  celestial 
may  most  surely  come.  When  Milton  had 
finished  his  master  poem  of  Paradise  Lost, 
which  is  one  of  the  three  literary  master- 
pieces of  the  world,  he  felt  there  was  an 
aching  void  in  his  heart,  and  that  the  lost 
chord  was  not  yet  struck  for  the  final,  full 
music  of  an  expectant  world.  Then  he  at- 
tempted the  sequel  in  his  Paradise  Regained, 
which  was  as  much  of  a  disappointment  to 
the  singer  as  to  those  who  heard  the  song. 

109 


The  Sinless,  SicJdess,  Deathless  Life 

Edwin  Arnold's  "Light  of  the  World"  was 
not  so  much  of  a  failure  to  reach  the  splen- 
did heights  he  had  climbed  in  his  "Light  of 
Asia,"  as  was  Milton's  failure  to  rise  above 
the  glorious  heights  in  Paradise  Lost,  in  its 
sequel,  the  Paradise  Regained. 

But  man  will  never  cease  climbing  heaven- 
ward no  matter  how  many  times  he  has  fal- 
len as  he  has  striven  to  scale  the  heights  of 
God.  Humanity  feels  it  has  lost  something 
most  blessed  it  was  made  to  ever  have. 
Hence  this  quest  for  its  lost  Paradise  is  the 
most  deep-seated  longing  of  the  soul.  We 
will  keep  on  fighting  the  holy  war  by  faith 
for  it,  and  will  never  give  up  till  the  full 
victory  will  be  forever  ours.  Then  our  real 
world  will  be  a  most  heavenly  dream  world, 
the  divine  beauty  of  which  no  Muse  has  half 
told  the  deathless  glory  of. 

Christ  came  for  no  other  purpose  than  to 
lead  us  back  into  this  glory  world.  He 
came  to  make  our  lives  bud  and  bloom  in 
this  desert  of  earth,  with  a  far  greater 
beauty  than  the  Rose  of  Sharon,  or  the  lillies 
of  the  valley  of  Palestine.  They  are  to 
bloom  with  the  beauty  and  fragrance  of  the 
Paradise  of  God.  The  opening  words  of 
Genesis  give  a  heavenly  foregleam  of  the 

110 


"Paradise  Regained" 

glory  that  is  departed.  Jesus  came  to  lead 
us  back  to  the  place  where  we  should  all 
"eat  again  of  the  tree  of  life  that  grows 
in  the  Paradise  of  God."  This  is  not  a 
promise  in  which  "man  never  is,  but  always 
to  be  blest."  It  is  a  promise  that  He  ful- 
filled, and  wants  to  take  every  race  child  by 
the  hand  of  faith  and  lead  them  into  the 
"garden  of  God,"  now  "where  the  tree  of 
life  is  blooming,"  and  there  is  actually  the 
rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God. 

A  little  social  custom,  milleniums  old, 
among  God's  chosen  folks,  gives  a  glimpse 
of  what  this  Paradise  is  when  once  we  have 
entered  into  the  possession  thereof. 

The  Palestine  overseer,  however  cruel  he 
may  be  as  a  taskmaster  to  his  brethren, 
when  the  rest  hour  of  the  heat  of  the  day 
comes,  or  the  finish  hour  of  the  day's  toil  is 
over  at  eventide,  calls  out  to  all  the  weary 
workers,  "Paradise!  Paradise!  Paradise!" 
It  means  the  time  has  come  to  stop.  The 
Lord  of  Labor  gives  place  to  the  Lord  of 
Love.  The  word  Paradise  means  "along 
with  God."  The  overseer  little  realizes  that 
when  he  has  taken  his  hand  off"  the  slave  he 
works,  that  he  has  commended  him  to  the 
good-will  of  God.      Henceforth  the  freeman 

111 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

is  to  do  what  he  pleases  till  the  work  hour 
begins  again.  This  freedom  is  a  time  when 
he  is  to  have  his  life  "along  with  God."  The 
Spirit  of  the  Almighty  is  to  be  the  guide  of 
his  hours.  Conscience  is  to  be  the  over- 
seer. When  one  follows  such  a  law  of  love, 
he  cannot  help  but  find  all  earth  in  such  a 
freedom  of  the  Spirit,  that  it  is  like  the 
moments  he  longs  for  when  he  shall  be  de- 
livered from  the  slavery  of  his  earth  breth- 
ren, and  join  the  redeemed  from  bondage 
in  the  land  of  eternal  Jubilee,  where  each 
man  is  a  freeman  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

It  is  into  this  state  of  mind  or  state  of 
heart  that  Jesus  came  to  call  the  world.  He 
is  to  take  us  out  of  a  world  of  Paradise  Lost, 
and  bring  us  into  the  world  of  Paradise 
Regained.  We  are  God's  poems  in  which 
this  is  to  be  realized,  and  through  whom 
this  great  epic  of  redemption  is  to  be  read 
by  all  people,  so  that  all  will  feel  that  it  is 
the  "song  celestial"  that  must  charm  and 
change  the  world. 

Daniel  Webster  in  his  great  Bunker  Hill 
Monument  address  said  that  "the  mind  is 
the  lever  which  moves  the  world."  If  we 
have  within  us  "the  mind  which  was  in 
Christ  Jesus";    if  we  believe  that  God  is 

112 


"Paradise  Regained" 

most  surely  within  us  by  the  power  of  the 
Eternal  Spirit,  "working  to  will  and  to  do 
of  his  good  pleasure" ;  if  we  believe  that  he 
is  able  and  willing  to  accomplish  that  which 
he  has  planned  for  us,  and  that  "we  will  ap- 
prehend that  for  which  we  are  apprehended 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,"  then  most  surely 
we  will  have  the  lever  of  heaven  to  pry  up 
this  dark  sin-crushed,  sin-cursed  earth  till 
will  be  lifted  out  of  its  slough  of  despond 
and  despair  into  the  glorious  life  and  light 
and  liberty  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Then  we 
will  know  that  we  are  "freed  from  the  curse 
of  the  law"  with  its  sin  and  sickness  and 
death,  and  can  cry  out  in  joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  glow  and  glory,  "Paradise !  Para- 
dise! Paradise!"  We  will  know  indeed  that 
this  liberty  of  the  Spirit  is  "the  sweet  will 
of  God  "  for  us ;  and  the  day  of  our  deliver- 
ance has  come  as  an  everlasting  year  of 
Jubilee. 

This  dream-stuff  of  the  ages  becomes  the 
"mind-stuff"  of  the  full  believer.  Out  of  it 
he  builds  a  whole  new  heaven  and  a  whole 
new  earth.  He  finds  that  he  is  indeed  in  a 
new  world  in  which  dwelleth  righteousness. 
Heaven  then  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us. 
Both  it  and  God  can  be  had  for  the  asking, 

113 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

and  no  good  thing  is  withheld  from  those 
who  thus  believe. 

Here  is  the  thought-putting  of  the  holy 
message.  As  it  comes  into  our  mind,  as  a 
thing  actually  believed,  it  will  transform  the 
heart,  as  the  cold  winter  is  turned  to  the 
warmth  of  summer  at  the  return  of  the  sun 
from  the  winter  solstice. 

The  great  vision  of  Revelation,  the  vision 
of  Christ  to  us  after  his  complete  victory 
over  all  things  in  his  resurrection  tells  the 
truth  most  graphically  in  an  imagery  that 
is  unmatched  in  its  glory  and  power  in  all 
the  world.  Christ  was  the  "Overcomer." 
He  overcame  all  man  is  to  meet,  even  the 
last  enemy,  death.  Out  of  this  triumph, 
from  the  heights  of  his  glory  he  speaks  a 
yet  larger  message  by  his  Spirit,  in  Revela- 
tions, than  he  ever  spake  while  he  taber- 
nacled with  us.  He  seems  to  say,  "I  am 
the  world  overcomer.  I  am  the  Spirit  of 
Life  that  overcomes  all  things.  I  came  to 
give  this  Spirit  of  overcoming  to  you  also, 
so  that  you  may  join  with  me  in  the  triumphs 
of  my  Messiahship." 

The  Jewish  people  must  have  found  worlds 
of  meaning  in  a  message  like  this.  They 
had    as    their    most  cherished    adage,    "the 

114 


"Paradise  Regained" 

secret  of  man  is  the  secret  of  the  Messiah." 
They  felt  that  when  the  Messiah  would  come 
he  would  have  the  secret  of  life  that  burns 
all  barriers  away;  and  that  he  would  make 
known  how  this  life  of  the  Eternal  Spirit 
could  be  forever  set  free  in  our  hearts  also. 
They  felt  that  all  men  were  made  to  be 
perfect  as  the  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect. 
They  felt  that  the  words  told  to  Abraham, 
the  father  of  the  people,  were  the  words 
to  be  ever  the  voice  of  God  to  us,  "Walk  be- 
fore me  and  be  ye  perfect."  They  felt 
that  this  life  was  in  the  soul  of  man  some- 
how, and  that  there  must  be  a  way  by  which 
it  would  be  brought  out.  When  Christ 
should  appear,  who  was  the  one  who  was 
"the  sent  of  God,"  the  one  wholly  led  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  they  would  see  in  Him  what 
each  of  us  was  meant  to  be.  Then  he  came. 
He  showed  sin-marred  man  restored.  Then 
he  says  as  he  ascends  up  on  high,  "This  is 
the  way  of  God  for  man,  follow  me."  We 
follow  him  fully  and  finally  by  yielding  to 
the  Spirit  of  the  life  of  God  within  us,  as  he 
surrendered  to  the  Eternal  Spirit,  and  was 
led  fully  and  forever  by  it.  All  we  will 
ever  have  to  do  to  be  saved  is  to  believe  that 
God  is  in  us  working  to  will  and  to  do  of  his 

115 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

good  pleasure,  which  is  nought  else  than 
making  us  over  into  the  full  likeness  of  the 
Messiah.  The  secret  of  life  wrapped  up  in 
us  all  is  the  secret  of  life  unfolded  perfectly 
in  the  Messiah.  This  is  what  is  meant  by 
the  great  words,  "He  that  believeth  that 
Jesus  is  the  Christ, — the  God  anointed, — 
"is  born  of  God."  This  faith,  in  its  unfold- 
ing, will  bring  forth  the  fullness  of  life  as 
revealed  fully  forever  in  the  Only  Begotten 
One. 

To  believe  this  in  our  very  heart  of  hearts 
is  putting  our  wheel  to  the  very  trolley  wire 
of  heaven.  The  currents  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  come  down  into  us  thereby,  and  set  in 
motion  the  mechanism  of  our  lives,  so  that 
they  move  out  along  the  very  lines  along 
which  Jesus  moved,  with  love  to  God  with  all 
his  mind  and  soul  and  strength  and  love  to 
lost  humanity  just  as  much.  This  is  the  vital 
union  and  the  vitalizing  union  of  the  soul 
with  God,  by  which  we  grow  in  grace  from 
day  to  day  till  the  full,  ripened  fruitage  is 
brought  forth  revealed  as  God's  will  for  the 
world  in  the  precepts  and  practices  of 
Jesus.  This  faith  is  bound  to  make  us 
overcomers  in  the  same  way  it  made  Jesus 
an  overcomer.      Whatever  he  met  and  con- 

116 


"Paradise  Regained'* 

quered  we  will,  by  his  indwelling  Spirit, 
meet  and  conquer  also.  Following  Jesus 
thus,  we  will  be  led  back  by  the  Spirit  of 
the  guiding,  guarding  angel  of  the  Covenant 
into  the  Paradise  long  lost  to  the  soul. 
Then  everything  we  can  hope  or  think  will 
be  ours  as  our  gracious  inheritance.  The 
book  of  Revelation  is  nothing  if  it  is  not  a 
great  undownable  proclamation  of  this. 
The  hand  of  God  therein  seems  to  sweep 
across  the  whole  octave  of  man's  hopes  so 
long  deferred,  and  ravishes  the  soul  by  saying 
that  these  are  thine  now.  If  we  will  only 
believe  that  with  Jesus  we  are  overcomers 
as  he  has  overcome,  v,^e  will  enter  into  the 
glory  of  his  life  triumphant. 

"To  him  that  overcometh"  is  repeated, 
like  a  "Sevenfold  Amen,"  again  and  again 
in  the  opening  words  of  the  wondrous  book. 
"To  him  that  overcometh  I  will  give  to  eat 
of  the  tree  of  life,  that  grows  in  the  midst 
of  the  Paradise  of  God."  Not  in  some  sweet 
bye  and  bye  is  this,  but  noiv,  if  by  faith  we 
will  accept  the  proffered  gift  of  our  full  in- 
heritance as  a  child  of  God. 

"He  that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  by 
the  second  death."  How  could  it  be  other- 
wise?    He  will  not  be  touched  by  the  first 

117 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

death,  for  he  is  already  risen  with  Christ, 
who  has  banished  death  and  the  grave  for- 
ever for  us.  A  life  thus  planted  and  poised 
in  God  will  find  no  death  of  soul  or  body. 
He  has  by  his  faith  entered  into  the  fullness 
of  his  blessed  inheritance,  as  joint  heir  with 
Him  who  overcame  all  things  for  us. 

"He  that  overcometh  shall  eat  of  the  hid- 
den manna."  The  bread  of  heaven  that 
Jesus  fed  upon  is  the  angels'  food  that  is 
ours.  One  has  meat  to  eat  which  the  world 
knows  not  of.  He  comes  to  that  blessed 
moment  that  is  the  promised  one  for  all, 
"when  men  will  not  live  to  eat  or  eat  to  live." 
A  new  source  of  supply  is  opened  up.  It  is 
foolishness  to  speak  of  this  to  those  who 
have  not  by  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  found 
this  pot  of  heavenly  manna.  But  it  is  the 
food  that  never  gives  out  and  always 
satisfies. 

"He  that  overcometh  shall  rule  the  na- 
tions with  a  rod  of  iron."  Iron  is  strength, 
in  the  eyes  of  all.  He  who  has  caught  the 
message  from  heaven  that  he  can  be  actually 
one  with  Christ  in  all  his  triumphant  power 
has  the  creed  that  all  men  are  bound  to 
come  to.  They  sooner  or  later  must  leave 
all  little  visions  for  this  largest  that  it  is 

118 


"Paradise  Regained*' 

possible  for  the  mind  and  heart  of  man  to 
possess,  and  which  is  truly  the  great  gift  of 
God  for  us. 

"He  that  overcometh  is  clothed  in  white 
robes  and  his  name  shall  not  be  blotted  out 
of  the  book  of  life."  White  robes  are  the 
righteousness  of  saint.  The  book  of  life 
is  the  calendar  of  the  saints.  The  saints 
are  "the  sent  of  God"  to  show  God's  mighty 
plan  for  men.  They  are  his  full  representa- 
tives panoplied  with  all  his  power  of  attor- 
neyship. This  is  what  we  are  to  be.  We 
are  to  represent  God  in  everything  or  noth- 
ing. No  good  thing  has  he  withheld  from 
the  child  of  his  love  that  walks  uprightly. 

"He  that  overcometh  shall  be  a  pillar  in 
the  temple  of  my  God."  The  pillar  was  the 
great  post  on  either  side  of  the  entrance  of 
the  door  into  the  temple  service.  On  these 
were  written  the  most  wonderful  words  of 
God  to  man.  No  one  could  enter  the 
temple  for  service  or  sacrifice  without  pass- 
ing these  and  reading  the  wonderful  words 
of  life  that  were  written  thereon,  as  the 
words  most  needful  for  the  worshipper,  to 
rightly  worship.  So  one  who  lives  in  this 
full-orbed  creed  of  Jesus,  that  we  are  one 
with  him  in  all  the  glories  of  his  heavenly 

119 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

inheritance,  is  the  door  post  into  the  great 
temple  of  truth.  All  who  worship  God 
aright  must  go  past  him  to  enter  the  shrine 
of  heaven  that  the  God  of  glory  has  set  up 
for  all  the  earth.  Men  will  read  this  match- 
less message  on  us;  and  as  they  do,  they 
will  find  that  their  whole  beings  have  become 
transformed  into  temples  of  living  light, 
aglow  with  the  glory  of  God,  and  filled  with 
the  presence  of  God's  perfect  hallowedness. 

And  last  of  all,  "He  that  overcometh  shall 
inherit  all  things,  and  I  will  be  to  him  a 
father  and  he  shall  be  to  me  a  son.  He  shall 
sit  down  with  me  on  my  throne,  even  as  I 
have  overcome  and  sat  down  with  my  Father 
on  his  throne."  What  a  climax  of  possession 
is  this !  Nothing  greater  in  all  the  world  is 
conceivable.  Yet  that  is  the  last  and  the 
best  of  the  great  things  which  are  ours  in 
the  sevenfold  blessing  which  God  has  pre- 
pared for  them  that  will  by  faith  become 
joint  heirs  with  Jesus  in  the  inheritance  of 
his  eternal  and  all  perfect  and  all  powerful 
life. 

As  one  turns  to  the  close  of  the  book  of 
Revelation  that  has  lifted  to  the  seventh 
heaven  all  the  Christian  world,  we  read  of 
what  all   this  must  mean   to  the  earth   in 

120 


"Paradise  Regained" 

which  we  live.  It  means  the  foulest  of  civ- 
izations  shall  become  whiter  than  the  snow. 
The  city,  the  ripened  and  most  rotten  fruit 
of  civilization,  is  to  be  redeemed,  till  it  shall 
be  like  a  New  Jerusalem — the  city  filled 
with  Jehovah's  peace,  let  down  from  above 
to  us.  In  it  the  deathless  life  is  the  thing 
first  mentioned  and  is  for  all  folks.  The 
picture  of  the  City  of  God  is  that  of  old 
Babylon,  the  city  in  the  eyes  of  the  Jews 
most  despised,  and  in  the  eyes  of  God  most 
befouled.  The  river  runs  through  the  midst 
of  it,  as  the  river  ran  through  the  midst  of 
Babylon.  On  the  one  side  of  this  river  in 
the  old  city  of  the  Euphrates,  the  priests 
and  the  families  of  royal  blood  lived.  There 
was  the  temple  and  all  who  were  permitted 
to  be  worshippers  in  it.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  river  were  the  people  of  toil;  people 
who  had  no  standing  as  citizens,  and  no 
standing  with  God.  They  could  not  enter 
into  the  holy  place  of  worship,  for  they  were 
without  God-touched  souls.  But  in  the  new 
city  which  John  the  seer  sees,  this  despised, 
befouled  city,  that  polluted  the  whole  earth 
with  its  fornications,  was  redeemed.  On 
each  side  of  the  river  was  there  the  tree  of 
life.     All  were  permitted  to  partake  of  the 

121 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

tree  of  the  garden  of  the  new  Eden  of  the 
Paradise  Regained.  In  the  very  midst  of 
the  street  of  the  city  even  "the  tree  of  life 
was  blooming."  God's  Paradise  is  one  re- 
gained for  all. 

As  one  lives  in  the  dream  of  the  sinless, 
sickless,  deathless  life,  as  God's  free  gift  for 
all,  he  lives  in  a  perpetual  Pentecost  and 
in  God's  everlasting  Paradise.  He  is  not 
simply  in  the  "cosmic  stream  of  life."  He 
is  in  the  stream  of  eternal  life  flowing  from 
the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb.  Into  his 
life  it  comes  like  the  sap  of  God,  unfolding 
life  moment  by  moment  into  the  full  likeness 
and  stature  of  the  Only  Begotten  Son  of  the 
Highest. 

Jesus  came  as  the  great  deliverer  to  say 
to  sin,  sickness  and  death,  the  great,  cruel 
taskmasters  of  the  ages  over  us,  "Let  my 
people  go."  By  faith  in  his  word  the  power 
of  the  great  bondage  is  broken  forever. 
Christ  has  pronounced  our  Emancipation 
Proclamation.  He  turns  to  us,  discouraged 
almost  to  death  with  our  bondage,  and  says, 
"Paradise!  Paradise!  Paradise!  You  are 
free  now  and  forever,  free  to  take  freely  of 
the  river  of  life,  and  possess  all  that  I  possess 
of  the  eternal  possessions  of  the  living  God." 

122 


"Paradise  Regained" 

Such  faith  gives  us  a  religion  that  is  really 
real.  It  lights  up  the  cold  ethics  of  the 
world  with  a  most  heavenly  emotion,  and 
puts  in  motion  movements  that  are  bound  to 
tell  the  good  news  by  word  and  deed  as  far 
as  man  is  found.  This  is  the  only  religion 
that  satisfies.  It  awakens  one  into  a  heav- 
enly life  and  into  a  likeness  that  we  know  is 
His  image.  This  alone  truly  now  and  for- 
ever satisfies. 

As  we  believe  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  to 
take  of  the  whole  Christ — the  sinless,  sick- 
less,  deathless  Christ — and  make  his  life 
over  to  us,  there  dawns  a  new  day  on  which 
the  sun  of  his  righteousness  and  his  joy 
never  sets.  This  we  know  is  the  real  world, 
and  all  else  is  but  an  empty  dream.  Into 
the  heart  comes  the  light  of  heaven.  On 
the  altar  is  the  fire  of  God.  Then  we  cannot 
help  but  sing  with  Tennyson, 

"Death  will  be  no  longer,  in  the 
Glare  of  the  deathless  fire." 


123 


IX. 

"THE  PREACHING  OF  THE  CROSS," 
CLARIFIED  AND  GLORIFIED. 

The  one  supreme  desire  throughout  Chris- 
tendom is  that  "the  preaching  of  the  cross" 
may  ever  become  more  clarified,  as  it  is  ever 
to  become  more  glorified.  Our  minds  are 
made  to  see  ever  more  clearly  the  place  of 
the  "Cross"  in  the  world's  great  redemptive 
purpose;  just  as  our  hearts  are  made  to 
glow  with  the  glory-vision  of  it. 

If  there  is  one  place  in  the  whole  realm  of 
theology  where  the  mind,  as  it  climbs  the 
high  and  holy  heights,  is  lost  in  the  mist  and 
the  mystery,  it  is  on  Calvary  at  the  foot  of 
the  "Cross"  which  the  world  somehow  in- 
stinctively feels  is  the  Crux  of  all  history  and 
the  very  axis  and  acme  of  existence. 

Here  is  a  fair  example  of  the  feeling  of 
the  entire  church,  whether  Greek  or  Roman, 
Catholic  or  Protestant,  about  the  holy  mys- 
tery which  Paul  felt  was  "the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation,"  and  the  only  thing  in  all  life 
worth  glorying  in;  though  the  Jew  found 
it  but  a  stumbling  block,  and  the  wisest  of 
the  world  once  utter  foolishness. 

124 


"The  Preaching  of  the  Cross"  Clarified 

The  words  are  the  very  heart  of  an  epoch- 
marking  sermon  of  G.  Campbell  Morgan  of 
London,  well  known  and  well  beloved  the 
world  over.  The  mighty  theme  that  gripped 
him  he  entitled  "The  Cross  of  Christ — the 
Heart  of  Religion,  the  Center  of  the  Mission- 
ary Message."  He  says  in  the  glow  of  the 
vision  which  has  transformed  the  earth : 

"The  Cross  of  Christ  lies  at  the  very 
heart  and  center  of  everything  in  life  and 
religion.  There  is  no  other  subject  so  full 
of  value  and  of  meaning  in  all  its  varied  ap- 
plications. In  the  Word  of  God,  we  have  the 
glimpse  of  the  Cross  from  its  beginning  to 
its  end.  In  the  inspired  writings  of  the 
apostles  to  whom  was  committed  the  work 
of  perfecting  the  doctrine  upon  which  the 
church  should  base  its  walk  and  conduct 
perpetually,  the  cross  has  an  ever-present 
place;  for  they  evidently  looked  to  it  as  the 
center  of  revelation  and  power.  The  more 
closely  the  life  of  Christ  is  studied,  the  more 
conscious  do  we  become  of  the  presence  of 
the  Cross  in  his  consciousness,  from  be- 
ginning to  end.  Through  all  his  min- 
istry we  find  references  that  show  that  in 
his  mind  at  least  there  was  the  perpetual 
subconsciousness  of  the  vital  importance  of 
that  work  accomplished  in  the  cross,  and  by 
the  resurrection  which  followed  it." 

Just  what  this  summum  honiim  of  all  re- 
ligion is,  as  brought  out  to  its  full  fruition 

125 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

on  the  cross,  has  ever  been  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  all  theologies.  It  is  this  that  the 
greatest  minds  have  wrangled  over  and 
wrought  over  and  fought  over.  It  is  the 
great  battle-ground  of  the  belligerants  of  all 
the  Christian  centuries.  What  each  saw, 
was  that  alone  what  they  thought  all  men 
were  meant  to  see.  So  the  Cross  has  not 
only  been  made  the  "hammer  to  break  stony 
hearts,"  but  the  battle-axe,  in  centuries  of 
the  severest  religious  conflicts. 

But  now  that  there  seems  to  be  every- 
where a  lull  in  the  battle,  and  the  smoke  of 
the  conflict  has  cleared  away,  we  are  be- 
ginning to  know  each  other  better  "as  the 
mists  have  rolled  away."  We  begin  to  see 
that  there  are  many  facets  to  this  most 
precious  truth;  and  just  because  of  this  it 
has  become  to  all  Christendom  "the  stone 
most  precious."  In  our  moments  of  stillness 
from  the  storm  of  intellectual  conflict,  we 
are  having  borne  in  upon  us  by  the  Spirit 
of  all  truth  a  clearer  vision  of  the  Cross  as 
the  center  of  civilization  and  the  soul  of 
science,  as  truly  as  the  secret  of  the  good 
news  and  glad  tidings  of  redemption  that  is 
to  baptise  with  a  perpetual  heart-blessing 
the  whole  wide  earth. 

126 


"The  Preaching  of  the  Cross"  Clarified 

The  little  outline  that  the  great  preacher 
draws,  which  he  is  to  fill  in  with  the  fullness 
of  his  love-overflowing  heart,  is  about  as  all- 
comprehensive  as  can  be  found  any  place. 
Though  doubtless  he  has  not  painted  a  per- 
fect picture,  he  has  drawn  the  outlines  that 
every  soul-artist  finds  are  the  ones  he  will 
love  to  take  as  his  own  as  he  mixes  his 
heart  colors  with  brains,  and  tries  to  picture 
the  scene  that  ever  ravishes  men's  souls, 
minds  and  hearts. 

The  great  truth  that  the  sinless,  sickless 
and  deathless  life  is  the  glory-goal  of  God 
for  all,  finds  its  finest  setting  when  brought 
within  this  outline  of  the  message  of  the 
cross. 

To  quote  again  the  exact  words  of  the 
great  sermonizer,  as  with  a  few  bold  strokes 
he  gives  the  outline  that  is  to  be  filled  in 
with  his  message,  as  the  Spirit  in  his  own 
heart  amplifies  it: 

"First,  Jesus  declares  the  discerning 
power  of  his  cross:  'Now  is  the  judgment 
of  the  world.'  Secondly,  he  declares  the 
destructive  poiver  of  his  cross:  'Now  is  the 
prince  of  this  world  cast  out.'  And,  lastly, 
he  declares  the  drawing  poiver  of  the  cross: 
'I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw 
all  men  unto  myself.'  " 

127 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

The  great  discerning  power  of  all  the 
world  seemed  to  be  centered  in  the  vision  of 
the  Greeks,  They  were  the  wisdom  of  the 
world  incarnate.  They  were  the  intellectual 
peers  in  the  world  of  letters  and  philosophy. 
Their  poetry  also  has  ever  been  the  great- 
est music  that  has  sung  its  way  into  the 
hearts  of  folks.  The  Acropolis  was  the 
Calvary  of  learning,  as  truly  as  Golgotha 
was  the  place  at  which  all  the  world  was  to 
learn  the  way  of  the  new  heart.  What 
Greece  did  not  know,  the  world  has  often 
thought,  was  not  worth  knowing,  along  the 
lines  in  which  she  so  clearly  thought.  Greece 
felt,  above  all  others,  that  "the  highest  study 
of  mankind  is  man."  Over  her  temple  en- 
trance were  chiseled  the  lasting  and  laconic 
words,  "Know  thyself."  This  she  felt,  as 
does  all  the  world,  is  the  keystone  in  the 
arch  of  all  truth.  Greek  wisdom  exhibited 
the  discerning  power  of  the  whole  wide 
earth.  But  she  still  felt  that  there  was  hid- 
den wisdom  she  had  not  found,  and  an  aching 
void  in  the  heart  that  was  not  yet  filled,  and 
a  lost  chord  in  life  that  was  still  untouched. 
So  it  is  most  wondrously  significant  that  at 
"the  last  great  feast"  some  of  the  Greeks 
which  were  at  Jerusalem,  when  they  heard 

128 


''The  Preaching  of  the  Cross"  Clarified 

of  the  wonderful  wonder-works  of  Jesus,  the 
wonder  of  men,  came  to  his  disciples,  to  see 
if  there  was  possibly  in  his  message  the  key 
to  unlock  the  secrets  of  the  Sibyl  that  they 
had  not  yet  been  able  to  bring  out  into 
the  clear  light.  As  soon  as  Jesus  heard  it 
he  said,  "Now  is  the  son  of  man  to  be  glori- 
fied." The  Greeks,  the  wise  of  the  earth, 
come  like  the  wise  men  to  the  right  one  to 
find  the  hidden  wisdom  which  alone  makes 
wise  unto  the  salvation  of  the  whole  man, 
and  brings  forth  the  true  discernment,  so 
that  men  will  know  themselves  as  they  are 
known  of  heaven;  and  they  will  see  clearly 
God's  great  purpose  for  them.  Then  Jesus 
tells  of  his  death  and  burial  and  resurrec- 
tion, and  how  like  a  grain  of  wheat  he  must 
give  his  life  up  thus,  that  other  lives  may 
be  caught  up  into  his  fullness  of  life.  He 
could  not  tell  the  Greeks  in  words  that  man 
was  made  for  the  deathless  life.  They  would 
have  laughed  him  to  scorn.  Their  greatest 
poet  formulated  their  creed,  which  was  to 
be  a  closed  issue  forever  in  their  thought. 
We  have  seen  it  in  the  Antigone.  "Against 
all  man  has  fought  successfully.  He  has 
tamed  the  wild  beast  and  conquered  the 
elements.     Only  against  Death  has  he  fought 

129 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

in  vain."  That  was  the  unconquerable. 
When  Paul  preached  on  Mars  Hill  to  the 
Greeks,  as  soon  as  he  came  to  the  mighty 
climax  of  his  message  and  preached  unto 
them  "Jesus  and  the  resurrection,"  his  power 
over  their  attention  was  finished.  They 
turned  away.  Some  mocked;  others  said 
they  would  hear  him  again,  and  only  a  few 
believed;  and  these  were  not  the  wise,  but 
the  simple-minded  and  the  women.  To 
Jesus  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,  the 
glorifying  of  the  body,  so  that  it  should  not 
be  sloughed  off,  but  taken  up  into  the  glory 
of  the  deathless  life,  was  the  crowning  pur- 
pose of  creation.  He  felt  we  would  never 
know  ourselves  till  we  come  to  know  this. 
Words  would  not  make  it  believeable.  Ar- 
gument could  not  bring  it  home  so  as  to 
become  a  creed  of  the  heart.  He  must  go 
and  demonstrate  the  truth  so  men  could  see 
before  their  very  eyes  the  glory  of  the  divine 
purpose.  So  most  naturally  when  the 
Greeks,  the  wisest  of  the  earth,  came  to  him 
wanting  to  know  the  truth  that  burned  like  a 
fire  of  heaven  on  the  altar  of  his  own  heart, 
he  felt  the  time  had  come  to  make  this  great 
divine  demonstration  for  the  discernment 
of  the  wisest  of  the  earth.      And  he  did  it. 

130 


*'The  Preaching  of  the  Cross"  Clarified 

Calvary  was  the  place  where  the  truth  was 
forever  made  clear  by  actual  evidence.  The 
Cross  ivas  where  the  world  discerned  clearly 
God's  great  purpose  for  every  one  of  us.  It 
there  discerned  that  man  was  not  made  to 
die,  and  that  faith  to  believe  that  the  life  of 
God  was  in  us  to  accomplish  this  glorious 
purpose  would  most  surely  bring  it  all  about. 
Jesus  proclaimed  it  to  the  people  over 
and  over  again  as  we  saw  in  the  second 
chapter.  But  their  eyes  were  holden  that 
they  could  not  see  it.  Our  eyes  are  just  as 
much  holden  today  so  that  we  cannot,  or  do 
not,  or  will  not  see  the  deathless  life  is  our 
inheritance.  The  sacred  hymn  tells  the 
sweet  story,  as  it  came  from  the  inspired 
heart  of  Phillips  Brooks,  "Though  Christ  be 
born  in  Bethlehem  a  thousand  times,  what  is 
that  to  thee  unless  he  is  born  in  you?" 
Christ  must  "be  horn  in  us,  the  hope  of 
Glory."  That  is  the  power  of  the  message 
that  brings  salvation  with  it.  Just  as  truly 
must  he  be  the  hope  of  the  resurrection  in 
us.  Unless  the  Christ  which  is  born  in  us 
unfolds  till  he  reproduces  the  triumph  of  the 
resurrection  and  the  complete  resolution  and 
not  dissolution  of  the  body,  we  have  missed 
the  purpose  of  the  incarnation.      He  must 

131 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

be  risen  in  us  the  hope  of  the  glorious  glory, 
as  well  as  born  in  us,  or  we  shall  not  at  all 
discern  the  purpose  of  the  death  and  resur- 
rection of  Jesus.  When,  however,  we  be- 
lieve that  the  Spirit  of  life  in  us  will  do  for 
us  what  it  did  for  Jesus  in  the  glorifying  of 
the  body,  then  will  we  discern  the  meaning 
— the  very  first  meaning — of  the  Cross,  and 
the  mist  shall  have  rolled  away  from  the 
mystery,  and  we  shall  see  clearly  the  glory 
of  the  Cross  as  we  never  before  beheld  the 
glory  of  it.  Then  you  know  yourself  as  you 
are  known  of  God.  Holding  firmly  to  that 
truth,  all  things  become  new  and  clear  in 
life,  and  you  begin  to  see  the  wisdom  hid 
from  the  ages  flashed  before  you  with  its 
wonderful  panorama  of  heavenly  beauty,  so 
that  you  sit  in  wonder,  that  the  marvels  that 
have  been  hid  from  the  ages  are  now  being 
revealed  to  you  in  these  last  times  of  crea- 
tion's unfolding  purpose.  You  say,  if  I  only 
could  see  this  done,  then  I  would  believe. 
That  puts  you  in  the  company  of  Thomas, 
the  doubter.  He  said  if  he  saw  the  risen 
Lord  he  would  believe.  Then  he  did,  but 
the  Saviour  said  to  him,  "Because  thou  hast 
seen  thou  hast  believed ;  blessed  are  those 
who  have  not  seen,  and  yet  believe."     If  you 

132 


"The  Preaching  of  the  Cross"  Clarified 

see  the  first  fruits  of  this  glorious  purpose, 
doubtless  you  will  believe.  But  you  will  be 
a  thousand-fold  more  blessed  if  you  believe 
ivitjiout  seeing;  for  your  faith  ivill  make 
possible  the  great  fact.  And  nothing  but  our 
unbelief  keeps  us  from  discerning  the  death 
and  resurrection  of  Jesus,  as  God  has  pur- 
posed it.  It  is  that  the  Spirit  of  life  may 
do  in  us  and  for  us,  in  the  triumph  over 
death  and  the  glorifying  here  and  now  of 
these  bodies  like  unto  his  glorious  body,  who 
felt  that  man  was  not  made  to  die,  but  to  be 
the  great  overcomer  of  death,  the  foe  that 
was  thought  unconquerable;  and  by  this 
demonstration  bring  the  glory  of  the  new 
heaven  and  the  new  earth  to  us.  This  belief 
makes  us  discern  the  first  great  purpose  of 
God  for  us  in  the  revelation  of  the  cross. 
The  next  step  that  this  truth  clarifies  is 
the  destructive  power  of  the  cross.  "The 
Prince  of  this  world  is  judged."  Every 
principle  and  practice  of  this  world  con- 
trary to  the  divine  design  must  be  consumed 
like  dross  in  the  flame  of  the  deathless  fire. 
Sweeping  aside  all  minor  things  that  are  to 
be  put  down  in  life  before  we  come  off  fully 
and  forever  triumphant,  these  three  great 
race   enemies   that   stand   out   in    fierce   de- 

133 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

fiance  must  go.  Sin  is  all  about,  making  us 
ever  wretched  and  wrecking  throngs  with- 
out number  every  place.  Whatever  else 
sin  is,  it  is  a  mighty  power  unto  destruction 
of  all  our  joy  and  peace,  taking  love  out  of 
hearts  for  each  other  and  blotting  out  all 
sense  of  God  and  all  vestiges  of  love  for  the 
creator  in  his  creatures  every  place.  Sick- 
ness, too,  is  all  about.  What  a  hospital  hu- 
manity is!  It  is  a  veritable  Lazzereto. 
Everybody  is  sick,  as  everybody  is  sinning. 
If  not,  he  is  living  in  momentary  expecta- 
tion of  it,  and  is  spending  his  strength 
mostly  in  guarding  against  it  with  laws  of 
health  and  laws  about  "meat  and  drink"  that 
are  longer  than  those  of  Lycurgus.  We 
have  codes  set  up  far  worse  than  those  that 
ever  trammeled  the  Jewish  folks.  We  are 
afraid  to  eat  this,  and  afraid  to  eat  that. 
We  are  afraid  to  drink  this,  and  afraid  to 
drink  that.  We  are  afraid  to  go  here,  and 
afraid  to  go  there.  We  are  fearful  to  do 
this,  lest  we  ought  to  have  done  that. 

We  are  caged  in  a  dungeon  ch^ear  by  these 
legal  enactments.  We  are  but  Jews  under 
another  name,  and  far  worse  than  Jews,  for 
our  codes  of  conduct  and  laws  of  diet  are  no 
better  than  those  of  Deuteronomy  or  Exodus. 

134 


*'The  Preaching  of  the  Cross*'  Clarified 

But  Christ  came  to  show  us  that  what  the 
law  that  we  have  put  up  cannot  do,  in  that 
it  is  so  weak  through  the  fear-struck  self, 
God  sending  his  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sin- 
less man,  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh.  He 
who  was  fearless  as  he  walked  life  triumph- 
ant in  the  fullness  of  his  faith,  condemned 
sin  in  the  flesh,  that  the  righteousness  of 
the  laws  we  have  put  up  might  be  fulfilled 
in  us  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh  with  its 
codes  of  laws  but  after  the  Spirit  which 
possessed  Christ  Jesus.  He  condemned  sin 
and  sickness  and  death  forever  in  the  flesh 
on  Calvary  and  the  cross  was  the  crowning 
glory  of  this  truth  triumphant.  All  these 
were  doomed  and  downed  forever  in  him. 
They  are  to  be  just  as  much  so  in  us  who 
believe  that  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus 
was  but  the  Spirit  of  life  of  the  first  fruit 
of  the  heavenly  harvest  of  all  humanity. 
God  wants  to  do  for  us,  who  believe,  just 
what  he  did  for  Jesus  as  he  walked  by  this 
unerring  and  deathless  faith. 

Death,  the  last  race-enemy,  Christ  there 
met,  and  came  off  in  everlasting  triumph. 
Sin  and  sickness  and  death  had  no  more 
power  over  him  after  the  resurrection. 
They   need  have   no  more  power  over   us. 

135 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

Christ  came,  and  on  Calvary  made  clear  this 
fact  to  us,  so  that  the  wayfarer,  though  a 
fool,  need  not  say  it  had  not  been  demon- 
strated to  humanity  beyond  a  shadow  of  a 
doubt.  What  a  light  breaks  into  the  heart 
that  sees  this!  The  mists  go  and  the  clear 
light  of  the  divine  power  and  the  divine  pur- 
pose of  faith  stands  out  with  unmistakable 
clearness.  If  thou  wilt  only  believe  this, 
thou  wilt  see  and  know  in  thine  own  life 
the  everlasting  glory  of  it.  This  makes  us 
see  the  all  destructive  power  of  the  cross  of 
everything  that  keeps  any  soul  from  bloom- 
ing forth  into  the  fullness  of  the  perfect 
righteousness.  We  need  fear  no  evil.  To 
one  and  all  are  we  impervious,  immune  by 
such  faith  in  the  power  and  purpose  of  the 
Spirit  in  us,  that  is  the  same  Spirit  that  was 
in  Christ  Jesus.  The  world  is  longing  to 
have  this  great  triple  problem  of  the  power 
of  darkness  cleared  up.  Calvary  is  the 
place  where  the  destructive  power  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  is  demonstrated  so  no  one  need 
ever  fear  that  it  is  not  able  to  destroy  for  us 
all  it  did  in  the  life  of  Jesus. 

The  third  power  of  the  Cross  is  the  draw- 
ing power.  All  Christendom  has  never 
wavered  a  moment  in  the  conviction  that 

186 


"The  Preaching  of  the  Cross"  Clarified 

the  power  of  its  great  proclamation  lay  in 
the  great  drawing  power  of  the  cross.  It 
draws  men  out  of  the  pits  of  sin  and  sets 
them  upon  the  pinnacles  of  glory  in  heaven- 
ly places.  That  is  the  great  mystery  of 
Godliness,  that  has  ever  been  hid  from  the 
wise,  but  revealed  to  babes  in  Christ  with  a 
power  that  holds  men  everywhere  as  noth- 
ing in  all  the  universe.  This  is  the  stone 
that  the  builders  of  earth-wisdom  often 
neglect,  but  is  the  one  that  has  always  be- 
come the  head  of  the  corner  in  every  civil- 
ization that  has  moved  upward  and  onward 
in  the  mighty  race-march.  We  have  always 
said  it  was  a  great  mystery.  This  it  is, 
and  one  may  well  stand  before  it  in  holy 
reverence.  But  it  is  a  mystery  that  be- 
comes most  gloriously  clarified  if  we  but 
take  the  two  steps  previous.  To  tell  men 
that  they  can  see  in  the  Cross  the  one  clear 
thing  that  all  men  want  to  see,  how  they 
may  overcome  sin  and  sickness  and  death 
and  become  perfect  as  the  Father  in  heaven 
is  perfect,  is  a  mighty  drawing  power  every 
place.  Men  feel  nothing  so  much  as  their 
moral  limitations.  There  is  nothing  draws 
them  so  much  as  to  tell  them  that  there  is  a 
way  that  these  may  be  broken  forever  and 

137 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

they  may  stand  forth  with  all  the  power  of 
the  triumphant  Christ.  This  is  something  to 
draw  all  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Experience 
shows  it  can  be  done.  It  is  the  call  to  the  age 
and  the  ages  for  all  men  to  come  and  be  par- 
takers of  this  all-power  of  heaven  and  earth 
that  filled  the  life  of  Christ. 

It  shows  that  the  wisdom  of  all  the  world 
was  brought  forth  in  all  its  crowning  beauty 
at  the  cross  and  the  resurrection.  Say 
what  we  please,  all  the  world  feels  that  there 
is  no  man  like  Jesus.  "He  is  the  greatest 
man  that  ever  trod  the  earth."  In  him 
dwelt  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Godhead  bodily. 
"His  name  shall  be  above  every  name  the 
richest  legacy  of  time  to  the  ages."  Thus 
the  heart  of  humanity  is  ever  bursting  out 
in  holy  adoration  of  him  who  came  to  take 
mankind  into  the  Arcanum  of  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  so  that  his  heart  should  be  ravished 
with  its  joy,  and  his  mind  delighted  in  its 
beauty,  as  all  heaven  and  earth  are  at  best 
but  a  dim  reflection  of  it.  He  solved  the 
riddle  of  existence.  He  conquered  all  that 
is  to  be  conquered.  He  loved  the  world  and 
set  free  a  love  in  the  human  heart  that 
brings  in  the  universal  brotherhood,  and  not 
merely  tells  that  it  is  a  thing  to  be  brought 

138 


"The  Preaching  of  the  Cross"  Clarified 

about.  He  is  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord 
of  lords.  All  fall  down  before  him  and 
cry  aloud  as  they  adore  him  for  the  glory  of 
his  goodness  and  greatness,  his  wisdom  and 
his  love.  He  was  the  one  who  was  so  in- 
filled by  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  that  he 
was  lifted  up  and  up  in  the  great  surging, 
seething  sea  of  humanity  till  he  came  to  the 
surface  of  it,  and  rose  above  the  turmoil 
and  the  maelstrom.  Calvary  was  the  place 
at  the  moment  of  the  great  resurrection 
over  the  power  of  death  where  he  showed 
that  he  could  be  thus  lifted  up,  and  was  thus 
lifted  up  to  lift  us  up  to  the  heights  of  glory 
by  the  same  Spirit  and  the  same  way  he 
was  borne  heavenward  in  the  unfolding  of 
the  power  of  the  endless  life  of  the  Spirit. 
One  little  illustration,  most  vivid  to  a  Jew 
and  most  impressive  to  all  the  ages  since, 
was  the  one  that  Jesus  used  to  tell  this 
mighty  drawing  power  of  his  cross  and  the 
resurrection  triumph  that  followed  it.  "As 
Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilder- 
ness, so  must  the  Son  of  Man  be  lifted  up, 
that  whosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not 
perish  but  have  everlasting  life."  They  all 
knew  the  mystery  and  the  practical  meaning 
of   it,      Why   a   brazen    serpent   was   used 

139 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

(the  image  of  the  thing  that  was  destroy- 
ing) to  have  men  look  to,  to  live  in  the 
camp  of  the  serpent-stung  host,  need  not 
bother  us.  It  was  to  the  Jew  a  most  veri- 
table fact.  So  man,  that  brings  all  the 
trouble  to  the  world  that  seems  to  come,  was 
to  be  the  one  to  lift  the  race  out  of  its  dark- 
ness. It  could  only  be  done  by  man  being 
so  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  the  Almighty  that 
he  would  be  transformed  from  glory  to  glory 
in  the  unfolding  of  the  power  of  the  Spirit, 
that  everything  should  be  overcome  in  the 
mighty  unfolding  triumph.  This  is  what 
Calvary  was.  It  saw  man  made  perfect. 
It  saw  him  bud  and  bloom  and  bring  forth 
the  fruit  of  deathless  life.  It  saw 
the  Prince  of  Death  go  down  under  the 
power  of  the  Prince  of  Life.  It  saw  hu- 
manity crowned  with  its  inherent  divine- 
ness.  It  saw  the  crown  of  sorrow,  so  long 
pressed  down  on  the  head  of  humanity,  lifted 
and  transformed  into  a  crown  of  the  most 
triumphant  joy,  so  that  all  could  now  join 
in  the  great  shout  of  victory,  "Oh  death, 
where  is  thy  sting,  oh  grave,  where  is  thy 
victory?"  He  who  was  lifted  up  in  such  a 
glory  out  of  such  shame  said,  "Look  unto 
me,  all  ye  ends  of  the  earth,  and  be  ye  saved." 

140 


"The  Preaching  of  the  Cross"  Clarified 

If  you  will  believe  that  the  life  of  God  that 
has  done  all  this  glory-work  of  God  in  me 
is  the  eternal  life  in  you  to  bring  forth 
the  same  mighty  and  almighty  triumph,  ye 
shall  not  die,  ye  shall  live.  Life  and  immor- 
tality was  brought  to  light.  The  leader  of 
the  world  had  come.  It  was  clearly  seen 
that  he  who  was  led  of  God  is  ever  to  show 
us  the  only  true  way  to  God.  It  was  clear 
now  as  a  beam  of  sunlight  that  if  we  could 
only  have  his  Spirit,  we  would  have  all  his 
glorious  triumph.  Then,  that  none  might 
doubt,  he  says  God  is  more  willing  to  give 
the  Holy  Spirit — the  Spirit  which  he  calls 
the  Spirit  of  Truth,  and  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
— to  you,  than  parents  are  willing  to  give 
the  gifts  of  love  to  their  dear  ones.  This 
Spirit  can  be  had  for  the  asking.  It  is  the 
Spirit  that  will  lift  us  up  into  all  the  tri- 
umphs of  Jesus. 

So  we  see  that  the  secret  of  the  solution  of 
sin  is  the  secret  of  the  possession  of  the  life 
of  the  Son.  The  secret  of  being  healed  of 
every  disease  is  to  be  possessed  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Great  Physician,  which  immunes 
one  forever  to  every  sickness.  The  secret  of 
the  overcoming  of  death  and  the  grave,  and 
of  hell  with  all  its  long-feared  wretchedness 

141 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

is  the  Spirit  of  life  of  him  who  put  death  and 
hell  beneath  his  feet  forever,  that  we  by  the 
guidance  of  the  Spirit  can  by  faith  put  them 
beneath  ours  also.  This  is  the  good  news 
and  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation.  To  be- 
lieve the  life  of  the  Spirit  is  the  sinless, 
sickless  and  the  deathless  life,  and  is  the 
design  of  God  for  all,  clarifies  the  meaning 
of  the  Cross,  and  glorifies  a  thousand-fold 
more  the  Cross,  for  with  our  minds  and 
hearts  we  enter  into  fellowship  with  him 
who  is  the  world's  soul,  and  first  fruits  of 
the  Spirit  in  the  harvest  of  humanity  where 
the  fruit  is  ripening  on  the  great  tree  of  life. 

Now  we  can  say  with  a  clearer  and  more 
glorious  witness,  "God  forbid  that  I  should 
glory  save  in  the  cross  of  my  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  There  I  discerned  God's  gracious 
purpose  for  me.  There  I  saw  destroyed 
every  enemy  I  have  ever  to  meet;  there  I 
am  drawn  to  be  lifted  up  in  glory  forever  by 
the  Spirit  of  him  that  made  Calvary  sublime 
with  humanity's  greatest  triumph,  as  by 
faith  in  God  it  was  declared  and  demon- 
strated so  that  no  one  need  ever  doubt  the 
will  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  for  every  one 
of  us. 

One  of  the  sublimest  passages  in  Bunyan's 

142 


"The  Preaching  of  the  Cross"  Clarified 

Pilgrim's  Progress  is  where  Christian  as- 
cends the  mountain  side  bearing  the  heavy 
burden  of  sin  upon  his  back.  Then  sud- 
denly he  comes  to  the  cross,  at  the  foot  of 
which  is  the  open  sepulcher.  Almost  at 
once  the  heavenly  pilgrim  finds  his  great 
burden  roll  away  and  into  the  open  sepulcher 
where  it  vanishes  forevermore.  Then  he  ex- 
claims in  his  new-found  joy,  "He  hath  given 
me  rest  by  His  sorrow  and  life  by  His  death." 
In  this  larger,  clearer,  more  glorious  vision 
of  the  cross,  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Spirit,  one  feels  he  comes  to  it  up  the  holy 
mount  of  God's  holy  highway.  Suddenly  the 
great  burden  of  sin  and  sickness  and  death 
that  he  has  borne  all  the  years  as  the  in- 
heritance of  all  the  centuries  rolls  away. 
They  all  seem  to  be  buried  in  the  empty 
tomb  of  the  risen,  reigning  Lord.  As  he 
feels  the  oneness  of  his  life  forever  with  the 
risen,  all-triumphant  Redeemer,  and  his  in- 
heritance in  him  and  with  him  of  all  things, 
he  cannot  help  but  say  in  the  vision  of  the 
ever  all-triumphant  life,  "He  has  given  me 
rest  forever  by  His  sorrow,  and  life  tri- 
umphant by  his  deathless  life." 


143 


X. 

THE  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  TRINITY. 

Professor  Wm.  T.  Harris,  the  late  U.  S. 
Commissioner  of  Education,  and  America's 
greatest  Hegelian,  once  said  to  a  group  of 
friends  that  the  "Trinity  was  a  metaphysi- 
cal necessity."  Much  more  truly  can  it  be 
said  to  be  a  practical  as  well  as  a  historic 
and  theological  necessity.  It  is  the  great 
"rule  of  three"  that  runs  as  the  web  into 
which  is  woven  the  woof  of  all  human  life 
everywhere.  Triads  and  trinities  are  to  be 
found  in  the  life  and  thought  of  all  peoples 
and  times.  These  all  realize  their  holy  and 
heavenly  culmination  in  "the  Most  Holy 
Trinity,"  that  has  its  bud  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  the  bloom  more  and  more  perfect 
in  the  unfolding  thought  of  the  Christian 
centuries. 

Just  as  the  "Preaching  of  the  Cross"  is 
clarified  and  glorified  in  the  thought  of  the 
sinless,  sickless  and  deathless  life,  as  God's 
glory-goal  for  all,  so  also,  only  to  an  even 
greater  degree,  does  the  triumphant  truth 
of  the  trinity  stand  out  with  a  clearness  and 
glory  when  seen  in  the  light  of  this  truth  as 
the  final  and  full  revelation  of  God  to  all. 

God  has  always  been  thought  to  be  "all 

144 


The  Triumph  of  the  Trinity 

and  in  all  blessed  forevermore."  We  have 
always  felt  that  "from  him  and  through 
him  and  to  him  are  all  things;  that  "he 
is  above  all  and  through  all  and  in  us 
all;"  and  that  we  cannot  escape  him  if  we 
would  and  we  would  not  if  we  could.  The 
great  stream  of  the  divine  life  flows  through 
all  and  floods  and  flushes  all  things.  What- 
ever is,  is  the  expression  of  the  Almighty, 
who  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  the  "Perfect 
Whole." 

But  all  this  thought  of  the  immanence  of 
God  does  not  in  itself  satisfy.  The  heart 
hungers  and  thirsts  after  the  true  and  living 
God  in  a  far  more  righteous  way.  We  feel 
that  he  must  come  as  some  Immanuel-God, 
— one  with  us.  We  want  some  express 
image  of  the  Godhead  bodily.  We  want  to 
see  his  purpose  in  the  life  of  man,  revealed 
fully  through  the  life  of  man.  We  feel  there 
is  a  divinity  within  us  shaping  our  ends, 
rough  hew  them  though  we  will.  But  we 
do  long  for  some  clear-cut  revelation  of  what 
this  divine  purpose  wrought  out  in  living 
character  is.  That  came  to  us  clearly  once 
and  forever  in  Jesus.  He  was  one  in  es- 
sence and  in  spirit,  one  in  power  and  prin- 
ciple, one  in  love  and  truth  and  life  with  the 

145 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

Father.  He  was  the  Immanuel  God  with 
us.  "He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 
Father"  is  what  Jesus  felt,  and  all  the  world 
realizes  that  only  such  a  conviction  will 
satisfy  the  heart;  hold  life  true  to  its  mis- 
sion, and  bring  it  to  realize  its  divine  destiny 
as  revealed  once  for  all  in  Jesus.  He  was 
the  Son  of  God.  He  and  the  Father  were 
one  in  every  sense  of  oneness  that  it  is  pos- 
sible for  the  mind  and  heart  of  man  to  con- 
ceive. This  is  the  rock  on  which  the 
church  is  to  be  built  for  the  redemption  of 
the  world.  Jesus  felt  it  profoundly  as  he 
proclaimed  it.  It  is  the  only  vision  that  has 
the  power  to  give  the  uplift  that  is  to  trans- 
figure and  transform  the  earth.  All  cre- 
ation is  made  to  make  us  come  to  see  this. 
It  was  the  great  pass-word  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  in  the  first  days  of  Christendom. 
It  has  been  the  great  dogma  of  redemption 
of  historic  Christendom  from  that  day  to 
this.  It  has  been  the  sheet  anchor  and  the 
shibboleth  of  the  church  through  all  its  trials 
and  tribulations.  It  is  the  only  door  through 
which  one  can  ever  enter  into  the  full- 
ness of  the  divine  love  and  light  and  life. 
All  the  gospels  were  written  to  make  men 
firm  in  this  foundation  fact  and  fundamen- 

146 


The  Triumph  of  the  Trinity 

tal  faith.  The  gospel  of  John — the  gospel 
universal — closes  its  matchless  words  with 
the  great  conviction:  ''These  things  are 
written  that  ye  might  believe  that  Jesus  is 
the  Son  of  God,  and  believing  ye  might  have 
life  through  his  name."  The  heart  craves 
humanity  deified,  as  truly  as  it  craves  for  a 
revelation  of  deity.  This  instinct  of  our 
nature  is  only  satisfied  in  Jesus,  and  is  fully 
satisfied  in  Jesus.  This  is  the  Rock  Gibe- 
ralter  of  Christendom,  that  can  never  be 
blasted  away  save  at  the  eternal  peril  of  one 
who  does  so.  A  fish  does  not  more  truly 
famish  for  lack  of  water,  when  out  of  the 
stream,  or  the  flowers  wither  and  die  when 
torn  from  the  soil,  than  a  soul  famishes,  and 
dies  an  unspeakable  death,  when  this  thought 
is  no  longer  the  ground  conviction  of  its  be- 
lief. Souls  flash  and  flounder  for  a  moment 
when  they  make  Jesus  anything  less  than 
this.  They  think  that  they  are  living  a 
life  of  liberty  in  the  great  denial.  But 
sooner  or  later  the  last  end  of  life  is  far 
worse  than  the  first,  and  the  soul  goes  out 
into  its  outer  darkness,  for  it  has  betrayed 
its  Lord  of  Glory  and  crucified  the  Son  of 
God  afresh.  No  one  wonders  that  Browning 
could  sing: 

147 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

I  tell  thee  the  belief  of  God  in  Christ,  accepted  with 

the  reason, 
Solves  for  thee  all  problems  in  this  world  and  the 

next 
And  so  far  enables  thee  to  be  heavenly  wise. 

The  truth  that  makes  life  come  forth  into 
a  most  glorious  triumph,  is  not  only  a  belief 
in  God  the  Father,  but  a  belief  that  God  has 
fully  and  forever  revealed  himself  as  the 
Immanuel  God  with  us,  in  Jesus  Christ,  the 
express  image  of  the  Father's  glory,  the 
fullness  of  the  true  race-purpose.  The  soul 
can  only  grow  into  its  divineness  when  it 
plants  itself  in  the  soil  of  God  by  such  a 
living,  undownable  faith. 

But  the  third  step  is  the  charm  step,  the 
belief  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  great  ques- 
tion of  the  scholastics  was,  "Why  did  God 
become  man  ?"  And  the  only  answer  is 
that  "Man  may  become  God — holy  as  God 
is  holy  and  perfect  as  the  Father  in  heaven 
is  perfect."  We  are  born  to  be  gods,  "why 
will  we  die  like  men."  The  spark  of  divinity 
is  within  us.  David,  the  great  singer  and  seer 
of  the  Old  Testament,  felt  it,  when  in  one  of 
his  most  heavenly  visions  he  sings,  "Ye  are 
all  gods."  Jesus,  the  "greater  David,"  felt 
it  far  more  fully  when  he  said,  "It  is  writ- 

148 


The  Triumph  of  the  Tr^inity 

ten  in  your  law  ye  are  all  gods,  and  the 
scripture  can  not  be  broken."  Why  do  ye 
kill  me  for  proclaiming  to  you,  in  the  con- 
crete, what  you  all  are  purposed  of  heaven 
to  be?  The  greatest  question  that  the  race 
has  ever  had  to  face  is  how  it  can  set  the 
divine  dynamic  free  in  life  and  allow  the 
divine  life  potential  within  us  to  become  the 
divine  life  possible.  This  is  the  greatest  de- 
sire of  heaven  also  that  we  shall  fully  know. 
Heaven  yearns  far  more  to  bring  us  forth  in 
our  divineness,  than  we  can  possibly  desire 
to  come  forth  in  the  divine  likeness.  We 
are  made  to  be  like  Jesus.  We  long  to  be 
like  Jesus.  There  is  a  way  by  which  this 
purpose  and  this  desire  shall  be  most  fully 
brought  about.  The  race  is  made  to  realize 
this.  The  great  aim  of  all  humanity  is  to 
see  and  be  this. 

All  the  world  more  or  less  fully  feels  that 
the  great  adjustment  between  man  and  God 
must  somehow  be  brought  about  through 
Jesus.  The  great  Atonement  must  some- 
how come  through  him.  He  is  the  medium 
and  the  mediator.  He  came  to  set  us  free 
from  all  the  bondage  of  the  flesh  and  give 
us  the  liberty  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Almighty 
by  which  we  might  realize  our  divine  son- 

149 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

ships  and  be  sons  of  God  like  himself,  lead 
of  the  Spirit.  The  Jew  felt  that  this  was 
the  message  and  the  mission  of  the  Messiah. 
"The  secret  of  man  is  the  secret  of  the  Mes- 
siah" is  the  way  their  "greater  than  Moses" 
put  it.  How  can  we  be  taken  up  into  the 
Spirit  of  life  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus? 
That  is  the  question  of  all  questions  we  have 
to  face. 

If  "the  mind  is  the  measure  of  the  man," 
most  surely  the  mind  that  is  in  Christ  is  the 
measure  of  the  divine  man  for  every  one  of 
us.  He  found  life  in  abandonment  to  the 
Spirit.  He  felt  that  he  was  dead  to  self 
and  alive  to  God,  as  God  was  guiding  him 
moment  by  moment  by  the  Spirit,  He  was 
buried  to  every  other  life  than  this,  and  was 
raised  into  a  newness  of  life,  with  this 
singleness  of  purpose.  Born  of  the  Spirit — 
borne  along  by  the  Spirit — borne  off  in  tri- 
umph over  everything  that  will  enthrall,  by 
the  leading  of  the  Spirit.  He  was  one  with 
God  in  the  life  of  the  Spirit.  He  says  that 
we  are  all  made  to  be  this  also.  As  we  are 
willing  to  believe  in  our  minds  that  Christ 
is  Lord  and  that  God  raised  him  triumphant 
over  everything,  even  death  and  hell,  we 
will  find  the  Spirit  of  life  do  the  same  thing 

150 


The  Triumph  of  the  Trinity 

for  us  moment  by  moment.  That  is  vital 
belief  in  Jesus.  It  is  a  conviction  undown- 
able  as  death  that  whatever  the  Spirit  of 
life,  the  divine  life,  within  us  did  for  Jesus 
it  is  bound  to  do  for  us.  We  know  that  this 
is  a  race  spirit;  that  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons;  that  he  will  have  all  men  come  to 
this  fullness  of  life.  It  is  the  call  of  God  to 
all,  and  we  are  the  "called  of  God"  if  we  will 
but  by  faith  hear  and  heed  the  wondrous 
call.  We  are  to  be  buried  to  every  other 
source  of  life  save  that  source  of  life  that 
Jesus  had.  It  is  the  life  of  God  within  us, 
carrying  us  to  the  same  triumph  that  it 
carried  Jesus.  We  will  find  that  day  by  day 
this  life  of  the  Spirit  will  take  of  the  things 
of  Christ  in  all  of  his  precious  experience 
and  reveal  them  unto  us.  It  means  that  we 
are  to  take  the  whole  work  of  God  in  the  life 
of  Christ  as  the  whole  of  the  work  of  God 
which  is  to  be  done  by  the  gracious  unfold- 
ing of  the  Spirit  in  each  of  us.  Sin  must 
go  down  under  the  presence  of  God.  "He 
that  is  begotten  of  God  cannot  sin,  for  his 
seed  remaineth  in  him  and  he  cannot  sin." 
No  matter  how  startling  and  staggering 
the  statement,  we  must  by  humble  faith 
and  thankfulness  accept  this  as  God's  great 

151 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

purpose  of  Grace  for  us  which  he  is  able 
and  willing  to  most  graciously  accomplish. 
We  are  to  reckon  ourselves  dead  unto  sin 
and  alive  unto  God,  and  he  will,  as  in  the 
great  faith  of  Abraham,  reckon  this  unto  us 
in  a  most  glorious  righteousness. 

We  are  to  feel  that  all  sickness,  like  all  sin, 
goes  down  forever  in  this  great  faith  conflict. 
"He  forgiveth  all  our  sins  and  healeth 
all  our  diseases."  We  are  to  cast  all  our 
diseases  on  the  same  Lord  we  cast  all  our 
sins  upon.  His  Spirit  coming  in  must  banish 
all  as  far  as  the  East  is  from  the  West.  The 
life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man  must  mean 
that  the  diseases  of  men  go  like  sins  of  men 
in  the  fire  of  the  divine  life  and  the  divine 
love.  As  I  look  to  the  sickless,  as  the  sin- 
less Christ  as  God's  promised  purpose  for 
me,  as  he  is  working  to  will  and  to  do  within 
me  of  his  good  pleasure,  I  shall  find  that  I 
am  immune  to  the  battalion  of  bacilli  that 
are  playing  the  sad  havoc  with  the  race  of 
those  who  see  not  themselves  as  God  sees 
them  and  reveals  his  vision  to  us  in  Christ 
Jesus.  "Keep  your  eye  on  Jesus"  as  the 
glory-goal.  Believe  in  thy  heart  that  God 
will  most  surely  accomplish  that  which  he 
has  promised  to  those  who  believe,  and  thou 

152 


The  Triumph  of  the  Trinity 

shalt  be  gloriously  saved  from  all  the  disease 
that  man  falls  heir  to. 

But  you  say,  "We  must  all  die."  No — a 
thousand  times  No !  Man  was  not  made  to 
die.  Death  and  hell  are  beneath  the  feet  of 
the  Son  of  God.  Death  and  hell  are  beneath 
the  feet  of  those  who  are  led  of  the  Spirit 
and  thus,  like  Jesus,  sons  of  God.  We  are 
joint  heirs  with  Jesus  in  the  full  inheritance. 
We  are  by  faith  to  reckon  ourselves  thus, 
and  we  will  find  that  we  are  as  dead  to  death 
as  to  sin  and  sickness.  They  are  to  have  no 
more  power  over  us  forever.  The  trinity 
of  darkness  goes  down  forever  before  the 
trinity  of  life  and  light.  This  is  not  too  big 
to  be  believed,  or  too  good  to  be  true.  The 
Kingdom  of  Heaven,  where  sin  and  sickness 
and  death  are  doomed  and  downed  forever,  is 
at  hand.  It  is  now.  Only  believe  this  and 
thou  wilt  see  the  glory  of  God  in  thy  life  by 
this  belief.  This  brings  the  triumph  of  the 
Trinity.  God!  God  in  Jesus  perfectly  re- 
flected to  us.  God  in  us  by  his  Spirit  doing 
for  us  what  he  did  in  Jesus.  It  is  the  Spirit 
for  the  race.  It  is  the  law  of  God  for  all  the 
race.  It  is  the  love  of  God  for  all  the  race.  All 
are  under  this  law  of  life.  All  are  to  accept 
of  this  gracious  love  of  his  life.     Our  wills 

163 


The  Sinless,  SicJcless,  Deathless  Life 

are  given  us  for  this  supreme  purpose, 
to  believe  this  from  our  heart  of  hearts. 
We  have  wills  to  believe  and  this  is  the 
crowning  faith  that  we  are  to  make  ours, 
that  the  crown  of  thorns  we  have  worn  all 
these  years  may  be  changed  to  "the  crown 
of  life  that  fadeth  not  away."  "Let  no  man 
take  thy  crown."  The  crowning  glory  of 
the  whole  creation  is  the  sinless,  sickless, 
deathless  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man  to 
make  the  deathless  love  of  God  in  the  lives 
of  men.  This  gift  of  God's  life  can  be  had 
for  the  asking.  This  heaven  right  here  and 
now  is  to  be  given  away.  God  is  more  will- 
ing to  give  this  Spirit  than  anything  we 
know — even  than  a  parent  to  give  good 
things  to  the  child  of  its  love.  Faith  alone 
is  the  faculty  that  God  has  given  us  for  ac- 
cepting this  proffered  gift.  If  thou  wilt  only 
believe  this,  thou  shalt  see  the  glorious  glory 
of  it,  and  find  in  the  Holy  Trinity  the 
triumph  of  thy  faith  as  nowhere  in  all  the 
ages  or  the  sages  to  be  found.  The  way  is 
so  simple  that  a  fool  need  not  miss  the 
heavenly  road.  If  you  try  to  save  your  life 
in  any  other  faith  you  will  most  surely  lose 
it.  If  you  lose  your  life  in  this  faith  you 
will  for  the  first  time  in  all  the  years  have 

154 


The  Triumph  of  the  Trinity 

found  it.  Then  all  the  riches  heaven  has 
purposed  in  the  gift  of  the  Son  of  his  love, 
with  this  good  news  and  glad  tidings  for  all 
the  world  will  be  yours. 

He  who  thus  believes  will  find  himself 
"practicing  the  presence  of  God"  in  the  most 
Holy  Trinity.  Then  he  can  say  with  Thomas 
a  Kempis,  "This  doctrine  of  Christ  exceedeth 
all  the  doctrines  of  holy  men;  and  he  that 
hath  this  Spirit  will  find  therein  the  hidden 
manna."  He  will  also  find  answered  the 
great  prayer  of  this  one  who  was  one  of  the 
greatest  saints  of  the  centuries:  "Oh,  that 
with  thy  presence  thou  wouldst  wholly  in- 
flame, consume  and  transform  me  into  thy- 
self; that  I  might  be  made  one  spirit  with 
thee,  by  the  grace  of  the  inward  union,  and 
by  the  melting  of  ardent  love." 

Then  will  Christ's  last  great  prayer  also 
be  answered,  and  we  will  be  one  with  him 
as  he  was  one  with  the  Father;  and  the 
love  wherewith  God  loved  the  Son  will  be 
the  passion  of  our  heart  for  the  Christ.  He 
will  be  within  us  the  hope  of  the  everlasting 
glory  of  the  sinless,  sickless  and  deathless 
life. 

"To  be  without  Jesus  thus  is  a  grevious 
hell;  to  be  with  him  thus  is  a  joyous 
Paradise." 

165 


XI. 

"IN    THE    LIKENESS   OF   HIS   RESUR- 
RECTION." 

Prof.  Everett,  for  many  years  Dean  of 
the  Theological  School  of  Harvard,  and  per- 
haps one  of  its  strongest  professors,  was 
asked  near  the  close  of  his  life  whether 
he  believed  in  miracles. 

After  a  moment  of  the  most  reverential 
quietness,  he  replied  in  words  that  all  who 
heard  him  said  they  could  never  forget: 
"Believe  in  miracles!  Why,  it  seems  to  me 
I  believe  in  them  more  than  anything  else." 
Then  he  went  on  to  say  why  this  convic- 
tion deepened  with  the  years  rather  than 
grew  less.  He  said  that  once  he  was  cross- 
ing the  ocean  and  a  great  sea  gull  fell  upon 
the  steamer's  deck.  The  poor  bird  tried  to 
fly  but  could  not  raise  itself  with  its  long 
wings  into  the  air.  Seeing  its  helplessness, 
an  old  sailor  in  pity  lifted  it  up  so  its  wings 
could  find  their  sweep.  Instantly  the  bird 
regained  its  power,  and  soared  into  the 
heaven  singing,  and  was  soon  far  away. 
Then  Professor  Everett  said  there  came  to 
him  instantly  what  the  real  place  of  miracles 
was  in  the  thought-life  of  the  race.      He 

166 


''In  the  Likeness  of  His  Resurrection" 

said  we  are  so  cloddy  and  materialistic  in 
our  thinking  that  we  have  lost  the  power  of 
soul  wings  for  spiritual  flight.  We  lie  help- 
less on  life's  deck.  The  miracle  comes  and 
has  something  in  it  always  of  the  spiritual 
to  lift  us  above  the  material.  We  find  that 
it  is  to  us  like  the  help  of  the  old  sailor  to 
the  helpless  bird.  Soon  we  can  find  the 
sweep  of  our  soul  wings  and  soar  into  God's 
great  heaven  singing  the  song  that  is  the 
spiritual  redemption  of  the  race. 

So  it  is  intended  that  we  are  always  to  be 
helped,  as  we  come  to  the  miracles  of  the 
Bible.  The  best  of  all  is  that  those  miracles 
which  are  least  thought  of,  on  deeper  study, 
prove  to  be  the  ones  freighted  with  the  rich- 
est spiritual  significance.  The  by-products 
of  the  miracles,  in  the  end,  often  prove  to  be 
the  very  best  products.  This  is  especially 
true  in  regard  to  the  miracles  which  throw 
greater  light  on  the  great  truth  of  the  resur- 
rection and  our  part  in  the  deathless  life  of 
Jesus. 

When  Elisha  who  had  a  double  portion  of 
Elijah's  spirit,  came,  he  did  more  than  twice 
as  many  miracles  as  did  his  forerunner  who 
was  carried  to  heaven  in  a  way  so  mirac- 
ulous.    In  his  death  he  taught  even  a  greater 

157 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

lesson  about  the  power  over  death  than  did 
Elijah,  who  was  carried  hence  without 
seeing  death.  As  the  bodies  of  the  dead 
were  let  down  into  his  tomb,  and  touched 
the  body  of  the  dead  prophet,  immediately 
they  were  brought  back  to  life.  It  seemed 
that  God  was  going  to  tell  to  the  world  that 
it  was  not  merely  how  to  become  deathless 
that  he  wants  to  make  clear,  but  that  the 
power  over  death  is  the  great  final  and  full 
power  that  we  are  ever  to  communicate. 
So  Elisha  declared  the  power  of  the  death- 
less life  for  all  more  in  his  death  than  in  his 
life.  He  showed  it  was  the  power  to  bestow 
more  than  merely  to  possess. 

When  Jesus  came,  who  was  the  fulfillment 
of  the  great  messages  of  both  Elijah  and 
Elisha,  the  double  star  of  Israel's  heavens, 
opening  up  the  message  of  immortality  to  us, 
one  of  the  most  deeply  significant  miracles 
of  Jesus  was  the  coming  out  of  the  tombs  of 
the  saints  at  the  time  that  Jesus  was  cruci- 
fied and  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  then  came 
off  over  all  the  powers  of  death  forever 
triumphant.  When  Jesus  died,  the  veil  of 
the  temple  was  rent  in  twain,  to  show  that 
we  were  all  to  have  full  access  to  God  by 
entering  boldly  into  the  Most  Holy  Place  of 

158 


"In  the  Likeness  of  His  Resurrection" 

the  Most  High.  But  in  the  very  same  con- 
nection it  is  said  that  "the  graves  were 
opened ;  and  many  of  the  bodies  of  the  saints 
that  slept  arose,  and  came  out  of  the  graves 
after  his  resurrection,  and  went  into  the  city 
and  appeared  unto  many." 

The  touch  of  the  dead  body  of  Elisha 
brought  some  to  life.  The  touch  of  the 
resurrected  Christ  brought  many  with  him 
of  the  saints  out  of  their  graves  in  the  glory 
of  the  resurrection.  It  was  to  indicate  that 
it  is  God's  clear  purpose  that  the  saints  are 
noiv  to  have  part  ivith  Christ  in  the  glories 
of  his  resurrection.  We  have  no  more  right 
to  enter  boldly  with  Christ  into  the  Most 
Holy  Place  than  we  have  the  right  to  enter 
boldly  with  him  now  into  the  glories  of  his 
resurrection.  This  minor  miracle  of  the 
risen  saints,  scarcely  ever  mentioned,  is  to 
become  one  of  the  main  miracles  making 
more  clear  the  great  triumphant  work  of 
Jesus.  It  is  to  reveal  to  us  the  glory  of  our 
joint  inheritance  in  the  resurrection,  which 
once  for  all  he  has  accomplished  for  all  of  us. 

This  great  truth  hovered  like  a  heavenly 
angel  over  the  first  followers  of  the  risen 
Christ.  It  must  have  been  the  common  hope 
that  filled  the  whole  horizon  of  their  life. 

159 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

This  is  the  only  way  of  accounting  for  the 
"Gospel  of  Nicodemus."  possibly  one  of  the 
early  accounts  of  Jesus'  work,  which  Luke 
tells  there  were  many  in  circulation,  when 
he  wrote  the  one  that  has  found  its  place  in 
the  permanent  canon  of  the  church.  This 
is  certainly  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
soul  inspiring  of  all  these  so-called  pseudo 
gospel  messages  now  obsolete,  but  which 
were  so  widely  read  and  greatly  loved  by 
the  early  church. 

The  most  significant  thing  about  the 
Gospel  of  Nicodemus  is  that  it  enlarges  upon 
the  very  things  in  regard  to  which  the 
hearts  of  men  hunger  to  receive  fuller 
light.  A  large  portion  is  given  up  to  the 
telling  of  the  story  of  those  who  had  come 
forth  from  their  graves  at  the  death  and 
resurrection  of  Jesus. 

Joseph  of  Arimathea  loved  the  crucified 
Lord,  and  could  not  help  but  testify  before 
his  people  that  he  felt  he  was  the  one  sent 
of  God  for  the  redemption  of  Israel.  For 
this  the  very  night  that  Jesus  died  he  was 
condemned  and  placed  in  a  dungeon  cell. 
But  in  the  dark  hours  of  the  night,  as  he 
tells  with  a  straightforward  artlessness, 
Christ  appeared  to  him.      It  was  as  clear 

160 


"In  the  Likeness  of  His  Resurrection" 

as  that  of  his  appearance  to  Saul  on  his  way 
to  Damascus;  and  the  appearance  was 
bathed  in  the  same  glow  and  glory  of  heav- 
enly light.  Then  he  continues  to  relate  how 
Christ  took  him  by  the  hand  and  led  him 
forth  from  the  prison  in  the  same  miraculous 
way  that  the  angel  afterward  appeared  to 
Peter  when  imprisoned  and  gave  the  mirac- 
ulous deliverance.  After  relating  all  this, 
he  further  tells  how  Christ's  death  touched 
those  who  were  dead  and  they  arose  from 
their  graves  and  were  now  living  in  the 
earth.  He  tells  where  these  can  be  found, 
and  that  they  should  be  sought  for  and 
brought  before  the  wise  ones  of  Israel,  to 
tell  for  themselves  of  their  wonderful  de- 
liverance, and  how  Jesus  came  to  them  to  let 
them  have  part  in  the  great  resurrection  of 
which  Christ  was  the  true  first  fruits. 

Here  are  part  of  the  wonderful  words. 
The  whole  story  should  be  read  by  all.  It 
certainly  carries  one  to  the  "third  heaven" 
and  leaves  the  impression  of  the  genuine 
sincerity  of  the  writer,  and  that  the  author 
is  not  writing  fiction  or  fancy,  but  is  telling 
the  straightforward  facts  that  he  had  at 
first  hand.  They  are  facts  that  make  one 
wiser  by  far  in  regard  to  our  part  in  the 

161 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

first  resurrection  and  what  the  glorious 
possibility  is  for  all  to  be  who  are  "risen 
with  Christ." 

"Joseph  said:  And  why  do  you  wonder 
that  Jesus  has  risen.  But  it  is  wonderful 
that  he  has  not  risen  alone,  but  that  he  has 
raised  many  others  of  the  dead,  who  have 
appeared  in  Jerusalem  unto  many.  And  if 
you  do  not  know  the  others,  Symeon,  at  least, 
who  received  Jesus,  and  his  two  sons  whom 
he  raised  up — them  at  least  you  know.  For 
we  buried  them  not  long  ago ;  but  now  their 
tombs  are  seen  open  and  empty,  and  they 
are  alive  and  dwelling  in  Arimathea.  They 
therefore  sent  men,  and  they  found  their 
tombs  open  and  empty.  Joseph  said,  Let  us 
go  to  Arimathea  and  find  them.  Then  arose 
the  chief  priests,  Annas  and  Caiphas,  and 
Joseph  and  Nicodemus  and  Gamaliel  and 
others  with  them,  and  went  to  Arimathea, 
and  found  those  whom  Joseph  spoke  of. 
They  made  prayer  therefore  and  saluted 
each  other.  Then  they  came  with  them  to 
Jerusalem,  and  brought  them  into  the  syna- 
gogue, and  secured  the  doors,  and  placed 
them  in  the  midst  of  the  old  covenant  of  the 
Jews;  and  the  chief  priests  said  to  them: 
We  wish  you  to  swear  by  the  God  of  Israel 
and  Adonai,  and  so  that  you  tell  the  truth, 
how  you  have  risen,  and  who  raised  you 
from  the  dead. 

The  men  who  had  risen,  having  heard 
this,  made  upon  their  faces  the  sign  of  the 

162 


"In  the  Likeness  of  His  Resurrection" 

cross,  and  said  to  the  chief  priests :  Give  us 
paper  and  ink  and  pen.  These  therefore 
they  brought,  and  sitting  down  they  wrote 
thus — O  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  resurrection 
and  the  life  of  the  world,  grant  us  grace 
that  we  may  give  an  account  of  thy  resur- 
rection and  thy  miracles  which  thou  didst 
in  Hades.  We  then  were  in  Hades,  and  all 
who  had  fallen  asleep  since  the  beginning  of 
the  world.  And  at  the  hour  of  midnight 
there  arose  a  light  as  if  of  the  sun,  and 
shone  into  these  dark  regions;  and  we  were 
all  lighted  up  and  saw  each  other.  And 
straightway  our  father  Abraham  was  united 
with  the  patriarch  and  the  prophets,  and  at 
the  same  time  they  were  filled  with  joy  and 
said  to  each  other :  The  light  is  from  a  great 
source  of  light.  The  prophet  Hesaias  who 
was  there  present  said,  The  light  is  from 
the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit, 
about  whom  I  prophesied  when  yet  above, 
saying.  The  land  of  Zabulon  and  the  land  of 
Nephthalim,  the  people  that  sat  in  darkness, 
have  seen  a  great  light." 

Then  continues  the  long  description  of  the 
touch  of  Christ  upon  Adam,  the  father  of 
the  race,  and  all  the  people  who  have  fallen 
in  death,  as  he  leads  them  forth  to  see  the 
glory  of  the  new  day  that  is  to  be  upon  the 
earth.      Then  the  prophets  cry  out: 

"O  Redeemer  of  the  world,  as  thou  hast 
foretold  by   thy   law   and  thy   prophets,   so 

163 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

thou  hast  fulfilled  by  thy  deeds.  Thou  hast 
redeemed  the  living  by  thy  cross,  and  by  thy 
death  on  the  cross  thou  hast  come  down  to 
us  to  rescue  us  from  the  power  below  and 
from  death  by  thy  majesty.  O  Lord,  as 
thou  hast  set  the  title  of  thy  glory  in  heaven, 
and  hast  erected  as  the  sign  of  redemption 
the  cross  upon  the  earth,  so,  0  Lord,  set  in 
Hades  the  sign  of  the  victory  of  thy  cross, 
that  death  may  have  no  more  dominion." 

Then  the  Lord  stretched  forth  his  hand 
and  placed  upon  Adam  and  all  the  saints  the 
sign  of  his  cross,  and  tells  them  that  as  they 
go  back  to  Paradise  and  are  met  by  the 
guarding  angel,  they  will  be  refused  en- 
trance. But  when  they  point  to  this  sign 
the  gates  of  glory  will  be  thrown  wide  open 
to  them  and  they  shall  have  their  final  and 
full  deliverance. 

Then  these  who  were  raised  from  the 
dead  tell  the  story  of  the  great  deliverance 
and  how  that  the  dying  thief  on  the  cross 
was  with  them  in  this  great  all-joyful  eman- 
cipation. When  all  was  finished  of  the  won- 
derful story  that  reads  like  a  glimpse  of 
John  the  seer  on  Patmos,  the  messages  were 
handed  over  to  the  wise  men  who  called 
them  for  this  great  witness : 

"And  after  they  had  finished  all  the 
writing  on  separate  sheets  of  paper,  they 

164 


"In  the  Likeness  of  His  Resurrection" 

arose.  And  Karinus  gave  what  he  wrote 
into  the  hands  of  Annas  and  Caiphus  and 
Gamaliel;  in  like  manner  also  Leucius  gave 
what  he  wrote  into  the  hands  of  Nicodemus 
and  Joseph.  And  being  suddenly  trans- 
figured, they  became  exceedingly  white  and 
were  seen  no  more.  And  their  writings 
were  found  exactly  the  same,  not  one  letter 
more  or  less." 

All  of  this  wondrous  message  points  out 
most  clearly  that  the  preaching  of  "Jesus 
and  the  resurrection"  was  the  mighty  point 
of  power  in  the  first  followers  of  Jesus. 
All  Jerusalem  was  aglow  with  the  fact  that 
there  were  eye-witnesses  to  this.  All  the 
followers  of  Jesus  hoped  that  what  took  place 
among  the  saints  that  rose  out  of  the  graves, 
would  be  the  great  way  that  the  whole 
wide  world  was  to  be  soon  harvested,  when 
the  seed  of  the  kingdom  would  bring  forth 
the  great  harvest  of  righteousness.  They 
felt  that  Christ  touched  in  his  death  the 
dead  in  prison,  as  he  went  to  preach  to  them, 
and  that  somehow  he  was  liable  at  any 
moment  to  speak  the  word  so  that  "all  which 
are  in  their  graves"  should,  like  the  first 
fruits  in  the  miracle  witness  of  the  risen 
saints,  come  forth  to  join  with  them  in  the 
eternal  and  the  deathless  life. 

165 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

The  Spirit  of  the  living  God  is  coming 
into  the  hearts  of  men  today  to  make  us  feel 
that  Christendom  has  lost  its  power  because 
it  has  lost  confidence  in  this  very  cardinal 
conviction  which  should  be  the  very  "yea 
and  amen"  to  every  one  of  us.  We  are  to 
accept  the  fact  that  we  are  nojv  one  with 
Christ  in  the  likeness  of  his  resurrection, 
even  more  so  than  the  ones  risen  from  the 
dead  with  him,  as  the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus 
tells  it.  God  is  waiting  to  declare  his  glory 
in  a  much  larger  faith  than  he  ever 
declared  it  in  the  facts  of  these  thus  risen, 
as  the  pseudo  gospel  tells  it.  It  seems  to  be 
a  mighty  fact  that  the  lamp  of  life  began  to 
burn  dim  in  Christendom  simply  because 
the  mighty  demonstrable  power  of  the  resur- 
rection became  less  than  they  had  so  in- 
tensely longed  for  and  confidently  hoped  for 
it.  Did  not  the  sad  words,  "since  the  fathers 
have  fallen  asleep,  all  things  have  con- 
tinued as  they  were  since  the  beginning" 
become  necessary  because  the  church  failed 
to  enter  into  the  fullness  of  its  heavenly  in- 
heritance, in  taking  part  with  Jesus  in  the 
fullness  of  his  resurrection  which  God  has 
purposed  for  us?  If  Christendom  is  to 
waken  out  of  its  long  sleep,  and  enter  boldly 

166 


"In  the  Likeness  of  His  Resurrection*' 

with  Jesus  into  the  glories  of  his  resurrec- 
tion, as  truly  as  into  the  glories  of  the  Most 
Holy  Place,  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  count 
the  belief  in  death  and  the  tomb  for  us  as 
done,  and  done  forever.  It  is  this  heathen 
belief  that  keeps  us  from  all  the  glory  of 
God  that  will  fill  the  life  to  overflowing  as  it 
glowed  in  and  glorified  Jesus  after  the 
resurrection  experience. 

When  Paul,  on  Mars  Hill,  preached  his 
marvelous  sermon,  all  listened  to  hear  what 
this  babbler  would  say,  till  he  came  to 
"Christ  and  the  resurrection."  Then  there 
was  the  breaking  up  of  the  group  of  the 
listeners.  Some  mocked;  some  said  they 
would  hear  him  again,  and  only  a  few  be- 
lieved. The  Greek  had  no  place  in  his  world 
theory  for  such  a  fact.  That  he  put  be- 
yond the  pale  of  the  possible.  So  precisely 
it  must  be  today.  As  one  preaches  Christ 
and  his  resurrection  in  this  larger  inter- 
pretation— that  we  are  to  be  like  him  now, 
"in  the  likeness  of  his  resurrection" — the 
whole  throng  of  the  schools,  theological  and 
otherwise  have  lost  interest.  They  feel  the 
message  is  out  of  the  realm  of  the  real,  and 
in  that  of  only  the  fanciful  or  fanatical. 
Most  mock.      Some  may  say  "We  will  hear 

167 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

thee  again."  Only  a  few  believe.  But  it 
is  the  message  that  is  the  full  and  final 
message  of  redemption.  As  the  few  who  be- 
lieved "the  God-intoxicated  man  of  Tarsus" 
have  gathered  around  them  the  world 
throngs  who  listen  to  the  tale  of  Calvary  as 
their  redemption  and  not  the  wisdom  of  the 
Acropolis,  so  the  few  who  believe  that  the 
deathless  life  is  ours  noio  and  forever,  and 
that  we  are  to  boldly  proclaim  that  we  have 
part  with  Jesus  "in  the  fullness  of  his 
resurrection"  and  can  enter  now  boldly 
into  this,  our  rightful  inheritance,  we  will 
find  that  the  schools,  whether  of  philosophy 
or  theology,  which  believe  not  this  will  pass 
away.  The  places  which  now  know  them 
will  know  them  no  more  forever. 

Thomas  Jefferson's  last  wish  was  that 
there  might  be  chiseled  upon  his  tomb  these 
simple  words,  "Author  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  founder  and  rector  of 
the  University  of  Virginia." 

But  he  who  is  above  "the  Parliaments  of 
mankind  in  the  federation  of  the  world,"  and 
who  is  the  author  of  a  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence from  all  sin  and  sickness  and 
death,  is  also  the  founder  and  the  rector  of 
the  college  of   Galilean   Fishermen,   which 

168 


"In  the  Likeness  of  His  Resurrection" 

moulded  and  will  mould  the  learning  of  all 
the  universities  of  the  world.  The  crown- 
ing truth  it  is  to  proclaim,  and  God  is  wait- 
ing to  make  clear  to  us  that  we  might  tell 
the  matchless  tale  is  that  we  are  to  here 
and  noiv  to  be  imited  ivith  Christ  in  the  full 
last  article  in  the  great  creed  of  redemp- 
tion. This  is  the  one  that  sets  the  soul  free 
in  its  native  liberty.  This  will  make  it  stand 
up  at  the  entrance  of  all  lands  of  the  free 
and  homes  of  the  brave,  and  bear  high  the 
torch  light  that  is  to  lighten  fully  and  freely 
and  forever  every  one  that  comes  into  the 
world. 

It  may  be  said  by  some  in  answer  to  all 
this,  that  the  vision  is  a  larger  one  than  Paul 
realized,  or  the  church  through  all  the 
Christian  centuries  has  formulated.  Doubt- 
less this  is  a  fact.  But  under  the  guidance 
of  the  Spirit  one  must  be  always  greater  than 
his  spiritual  ancestors,  or  he  will  never  be 
as  great. 

The  Spirit  of  Jesus  is  always  saying  to 
men,  I  have  greater  things  to  say  to  you, 
than  I  have  yet  been  able  to  reveal  to  the 
race.  This  is  one  of  these  greater  things. 
We  are  to  be  partakers  of  Christ  in  his  resur- 
rection and  power  over  death  like  all  of  his 

169 


The  Sinless,  SicJcless,  Deathless  Life 

gracious  attributes.  This  is  entering  boldly 
with  him  not  only  into  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
but  into  the  glories  of  his  heavenly  in- 
heritance. This  is  not  presumption.  It  is 
presumption  on  our  part  to  believe  that 
there  is  any  good  thing  revealed  in  Christ 
Jesus  that  God  is  willfully  withholding  from 
us.  With  him  he  freely  offers  us  all  things. 
All  things  are  ours  and  we  are  Christ's,  as 
Christ  was  God's. 


170 


XII. 
THE  RETURN  OF  THE  CHRIST. 

There  is  nothing  that  Christendom  has 
so  reverently  and  yearningly  looked  forward 
to  as  the  return  of  the  Christ.  It  was  the 
great  expectation  of  the  early  church,  at 
any  moment.  For  this  they  waited  like  the 
wise  virgins  for  the  coming  of  the  bride- 
groom at  the  marriage  feast.  It  filled  the 
mind  of  Paul,  the  great  formulator  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Christ,  and  the  great  sys- 
temizer  of  the  truths  of  the  world's  salva- 
tion. No  one  doubts  but  what  he  joined 
with  his  fellow  followers  of  Jesus  the  world 
over  in  looking  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
at  any  moment.  His  sure  and  speedy  return 
is  the  last  great  promise  of  the  risen  Lord, 
as  he  gives  the  closing  message  of  the 
Revelation  vision,  that  closes  the  canon  of 
the  historic  church.  "He  that  testifieth 
these  things  saith.  Surely  I  come  quickly." 
It  is  the  great  prayer  that  closes  the  sacred 
pages  of  the  world's  Book  of  Life,  "Even  so 
come,  Lord  Jesus." 

This  truth  has  ever  been  the  great  truth 
that  has  kept  the  fire  burning  brightly  on 
the    heart-altar    of    Christendom.       It    has 

171 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

purified  the  springs  of  life  from  which  has 
flowed  the  river  of  life  to  bless  the  earth. 
Harnack,  the  greatest  of  modern  church 
historians,  has  said  that  the  one  supreme 
thought  that  has  ever  kept  the  church  pure, 
and  given  it  ever  its  great  missionay  power 
has  been  the  thought  of  the  speedy  return  of 
her  Lord.  All  the  way  down  the  Christian 
ages  the  people  who  have  dwelt  most  upon 
the  sacred  theme  have  been  those  most  de- 
voted to  heralding  the  good  news  as  the  only 
salvation  under  heaven,  for  the  redemption 
of  the  entire  world.  The  great  missionary 
enterprises  that  have  again  and  again  arisen 
through  the  Christian  centuries  to  bless  the 
church  and  spread  the  gospel  to  the  heathen 
lands  of  the  earth  have  been  very  largely,  if 
not  wholly,  inspired  by  those  who  have  been 
fired  with  the  thought  of  the  speedy  return 
of  the  Lord,  when  he  will  gather  "his 
loved  ones  home."  All  longed  for  this 
glory  that  was  Enoch's  and  Elijah's, 
and  which,  Paul  says,  is  the  moment  when 
we  will  no  more  see  death,  but  be  caught 
up  in  the  air  to  be  forever  with  the  Lord. 
All  Christendom  has  made  the  subject  of  its 
great  intercessory  prayer,  the  hastening  of 
the  day  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Prayer, 
they  felt,  had  power  to  move  things  toward 

172 


The  Retu7"n  of  the  Christ 

this  great  consummation,  that  was  the  glory 
of  the  gospel  dispensation,  and  the  one  thing 
for  which  all  nations  were  to  ever  pray 
believingly. 

Along  with  this  great  fact,  with  its 
strange  historic  experience  and  centuries  of 
unfilfullment,  has  grown  up  another  thing 
that  is  one  of  the  strangest,  saddest  ones 
that  has  to  be  recorded  in  the  history  of  the 
Christian  church. 

In  face  of  the  fact  that  Jesus  emphatically 
said  that  we  are  to  know  not  the  day  or  the 
hour  of  his  coming,  and  that  we  are  not  to 
spend  our  thought  in  searching  to  find  out 
the  detailed  will  of  God  regarding  it,  men 
have  wrestled  and  worried,  thought  and 
wrought  more  over  trying  to  find  this  secret, 
known  not  even  by  the  angels  or  the  Son  of 
the  Almighty.  They  have  searched  the 
scriptures  to  see  if  prophecy  would  not  name 
the  hour  and  the  day  and  the  place  that 
the  "Lord  should  return  from  heaven  with 
a  shout."  The  omens  of  his  coming  have 
become  to  many,  in  their  ecstatic  enthusi- 
asm, the  very  "yea  and  amen"  of  the  gospel 
which  they  had  to  preach.  In  the  face  of 
the  words  of  the  Lord,  "It  is  not  for  you  to 
know  the  times  and  the  seasons,  which  the 

173 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

Lord  hath  put  in  his  own  hands,"  they  have 
insisted  on  knowing  these  very  things  and 
knowing  them  to  the  jot  and  tittle  of  the 
letter  of  the  message  which  Jesus  felt  was 
to  be  hidden  as  a  holy  mystery  from  all 
everywhere. 

The  method  of  Christ's  second  coming  has 
been  as  much  a  "bone  of  contention"  and  a 
source  of  disturbance  among  the  people  of 
God  through  the  Christian  centuries,  as  the 
time  and  the  place  when  he  who  ascended  to 
heaven  would  return  once  more.  Daniel, 
Ezekiel  and  Revelation  have  been  sources  of 
prophetical  interpretations  that  have  be- 
wildered many  of  God's  best  people,  even 
turning  insane  some  of  the  best  of  the  best. 
The  bitter  fruit  of  too  much  thinking  along 
this  line  has  shown  us  the  hollow  mockery 
to  the  soul  that  must  come  to  those  who 
would  presume  to  enter  where  the  very  Lord 
of  Glory  himself  said  he  dare  not  tread; 
and  warns  us  not  to  enter  the  Holy  Place, 
even  though  we  take  off  our  shoes  in  the 
utmost  reverence,  as  we  enter  the  hallowed 
spot. 

One  thing  certainly  stands  out  very  clearly 
in  regard  to  the  whole  matter  of  the 
"Parousia,"    the    appearing    again    of    the 

174 


The  Retwn  of  the  Christ 

Christ.  It  seems  that  the  church  of  Chris- 
tendom is  in  all  probability  to  he  as  fully 
mistaken  as  to  the  "manner  of  his  coming" 
again  as  were  the  Jeivs  as  to  the  manner  of 
the  first  coming  of  the  Messiah  and  the 
Christ.  That  he  will  come  again  we  are 
absolutely  certain;  and  should  be  absolutely 
certain.  That  we  are  to  pray  earnestly  for 
this  appearing  of  our  Lord  is  a  fact  that  is 
one  of  the  basal  ones  of  the  Christian's  faith. 
But  as  to  the  time  and  the  place  and  the  ivay 
of  his  coming,  "knoweth  no  man,  no,  not 
even  the  angels  of  God."  What  God  has 
hid  from  the  heavenly  hosts  and  his  Only 
Begotten  Son  is  surely  not  ours  to  demand 
an  answer  to  with  a  presumption  that  is 
often  like  storming  the  gates  of  Paradise. 

In  the  vision  of  the  sinless,  sickless  and 
deathless  life,  as  God's  desire  for  all,  the 
thought  of  the  return  of  the  Lord  takes  on  a 
far  higher  and  holier,  a  far  sounder  and 
saner  meaning  than  we  could  otherwise  pos- 
sibly have  of  it.  It  "harmonizes  Scripture" 
and  makes  happy  and  most  hopeful  the  ex- 
pectant heart. 

I  am  to  pray  expectantly  for  God's  will 
to  be  done.  I  know  his  will  is  that  I  should 
become  like  Jesus,  that  I  should  be  as  holy 

175 


The  Si7ilc8s,  SicJdcss,  Deathless  Life 

as  he  is  holy,  as  sickless  as  he  is  sickless, 
and  as  deathless  as  he  is  deathless.  The 
Holy  Spirit  is  given  to  men  now  and 
here  for  taking  the  whole  of  Christ  and 
making  him  wholly  ours  that  we  may  be- 
come holy  like  his  blessed  self.  This  is 
not  to  be  in  some  far  away  age.  The 
time  is  at  hand  for  the  bringing  forth  of 
this  precious  product.  Nothing  but  un- 
belief in  this  prevents  our  believing 
prayers  going  up  for  its  accomplishment. 
It  would  be  as  foolish  to  pray  that  I  be  kept 
from  stealing  and  think  this  is  to  be  brought 
about  in  the  far  away  bye  and  bye,  as  to 
pray  that  I  may  be  brought  into  the  fullness 
of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  and  expect  that  this 
can  only  be  and  will  only  be  in  some  far 
distant  age  when  the  Lord  descends  from 
heaven  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead  and 
bring  in  the  reign  of  the  deathless  life.  Now 
is  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  the  sinless, 
sickless,  deathless  life.  I  am  to  be  delivered 
now,  if  I  only  believe  the  great  deliverer  is 
able  and  willing  to  do  his  promised  work. 
Unless  a  man  lengthens  the  cords  and 
strengthens  the  stakes  of  his  faith  to  take 
in  a  vision  like  this,  he  has  come  far  short 
of  the  will  of  God  so  clearly   reveaeld  in 

176 


The  Return  of  the  Christ 

Christ  Jesus  for  every  one  of  us.  We  are  to 
hasten  the  day  of  our  Lord's  coming  by  be- 
lieving that  he  has  come  in  us.  We  are  to 
hasten  the  day  of  the  great  universal  resur- 
rection by  saying  "He  is  risen  in  me."  In 
the  far  off  Alps  every  Easter-tide  the 
throngs  go  up  the  mountain  sides,  for  a 
beautiful  antiphonal  service.  Those  on  the 
one  side  sing  their  Easter  joy,  "The  Lord  is 
risen."  From  far  across  the  valley  on  the 
hillside  opposite  comes  the  sweet  response, 
"He  is  risen  indeed,  He  is  risen  in  me." 
From  the  heights  of  the  eternal  glory,  the 
angels  of  God  and  the  choirs  of  heaven  are 
ever  singing,  "The  Lord  is  risen."  From 
across  the  "valley  of  death,"  as  the  world 
has  so  long  and  so  deeply  made  it,  there  is 
to  come  forth  from  the  heart  of  the  believer, 
as  his  everlasting  Easter  Joy,  "He  is  risen 
indeed,  he  is  risen  in  me."  This  makes  the 
great  triumph  song  of  Jesus'  resurrection 
ours  now.  As  we  sing  it  by  faith,  we  shall 
hasten  the  coming  of  that  day  of  days  into 
the  lives  of  men,  when  all  shall  know  "the 
days  of  the  Son  of  Man,"  the  sinless,  sickless 
and  deathless  Christ,  from  the  one  end  of 
heaven  and  earth  to  the  other  end  of  it. 
When  or  where  or  how  Christ  shall  come 

177 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

again  will  give  us  little  or  no  concern,  as  we 
are  admonished  in  the  scriptures  not  to  do. 
We  know  that  when  he  does  come  it  can  be 
for  nought  else  than  to  awaken  the  glorious 
conviction  and  the  more  glorious  realization 
in  the  hearts  of  God's  people  that  the  power 
and  curse  of  sin  and  sickness  and  death  have 
been  forever  wiped  away.  Under  such  a 
universal  reign  of  the  Spirit,  the  reign  of 
Universal  Law  will  ripen  into  that  of  Uni- 
versal Love.  Then  will  be  ushered  in  the 
universal  Easter-tide  by  the  coming  of  the 
universal  resurrection,  and  there  will  be  the 
complete  fulfillment  of  this  most  glorious 
and  most  prophetic  ceremonial  service  of 
Christendom. 

The  second  coming  of  the  Lord  has  already 
begun  in  me  the  moment  I  have  accepted  by 
faith  that  by  his  indwelling  and  outworking 
Spirit  I  will,  by  God's  Spirit,  be  over  all  the 
great  race  foes  forever  triumphant.  This 
will  make  me  a  torch-bearer  of  Christendom, 
lighting  the  earth  for  the  speedy  coming 
again  of  Christ  the  Lord. 

This  will  hasten  the  completion  of  the 
"program  of  the  ages"  that  so  many  have 
tried  to  read  rightly  as  God  has  planned  it. 
His  plan,  as  I  am  to  know  it,  is  that  I  enter 

178 


The  Return  of  the  Christ 

into  the  fullness  of  the  Redeemer's  life.  By 
my  full  acceptance  by  prayer  and  faith  I 
shall  hasten  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
blessing  of  the  world  with  the  fulfilled  re- 
demption that  Jesus  revealed  in  himself  as 
God's  purpose  for  each  and  all. 

Such  a  faith  will  make  burn  more  brightly 
the  great  fire  of  heavenly  expectancy  that 
will  make  life  purer.  It  will  make  the 
church  more  of  a  power  to  make  the  wrong 
earth  right.  It  will  give  us  all  the  power, 
as  Harhack  has  said,  that  the  vision  of  the 
"second,  coming"  gave  to  the  early  church 
and  has  given  to  the  followers  of  Jesus  ever 
since.  It  will  take  Christ  at  his  word  when 
he  says,  "I  come  quickly."  He  will  come  as 
quickly  into  us  with  his  deathless  presence, 
as  we  will  by  faith  admit  his  whole  all- 
powerful  and  full  redemptive  life.  This 
faith  makes  us  follow  his  command  in  not 
worrying  or  trying  to  pry  into  the  future  as 
to  when  and  how  the  final  consummation  of 
things  will  be  brought  about.  We  will  have 
power  to  witness  what  we  have  taken  by 
faith  as  our  full  and  rightful  inheritance. 
This  power  will  melt  hearts  to  penitence,  and 
mould  them  into  righteousness.  It  is  the 
light  of  the  world  that  is,  and  is  to  come. 

179 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

At  this  holy  flame  of  the  Light  of  the  World, 
we  are  to  light  our  life  tapers  to  carry  the 
good  news  from  hilltop  to  hilltop,  till  every 
high  place  of  the  earth  will  be  a  most  holy 
place,  aflame  with  the  true  and  full  light 
of  God. 

This  will  give  us  a  preaching  of  the 
"second  coming  of  Christ"  that  is  with 
soundness  and  sanity.  It  will  be  a  mighty 
power  of  God  unto  the  tearing  down  of  the 
strongest  holds  of  sin  and  Satan.  We  will 
thus  carry  the  Holy  War  to  the  very  gates 
of  hell  and  Hades. 

We  can  storm  the  citadel  of  sin,  by  such 
a  faith,  and  take  every  stronghold  of  the 
enemy,  bringing  about  the  unconditional 
surrender  of  every  foe,  and  bring  forth  the 
joy  unspeakable  of  the  universal  and  the 
everlasting  triumph.  This  kind  of  faith 
keeps  us  from  the  senseless  thing  of  "search- 
ing the  scripture"  for  the  times  and  the 
seasons  which  the  Lord  hath  put  in  his  own 
hand.  All  such  searching  will  seem  to  us 
as  futile  as  the  work  of  the  Augers  of  the 
old  heathen  religions  as  they  tried  to  read 
in  the  entrails  of  the  birds  and  beasts  of  the 
sacred  sacrifices,  the  destiny  of  men,  as  the 
gods  were  designing  it. 

180 


The  Return  of  the  Christ 

Whatsoever  is  not  of  such  a  larger,  truer 
faith  in  the  return  of  the  Christ  is  indeed 
sin.  It  is  a  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  who 
spoke  through  the  Holy  Child  Jesus,  that 
this  is  the  thing  that  is  ours,  as  he  came 
and  suffered  and  died  and  rose  again  to 
give  us  as  our  divine  inheritance.  This  is 
not  a  faith  that  is  a  fool's  folly.  A  man 
must  be  a  "fool  and  slow  of  heart"  that  can 
not  or  will  not  see  this  is  the  will  of  God  for 
all  in  Christ  Jesus.  This  is  the  faith  that 
makes  faithful,  not  merely  "unto  death,"  but 
"triumphant  over  death."  This  is  the  faith 
that  will  hasten  the  day  of  the  coming  of 
the  Lord.  For  this  faith  we  are  fashioned 
of  God.  We  have  missed  the  mark  of  our 
high  calling  in  God,  if  we  come  short  of 
believing  it.  This  is  the  victory  that  over- 
comes the  world — even  this  victory  of  the 
sinless,  sickless,  deathless  life,  which  is  ours 
now  and  forever,  as  the  priceless  gift  of  God 
to  all  in  Jesus. 

God,  by  his  Eternal  Spirit,  was  born  in 
Jesus,  lifting  him  up  into  the  fullness  of  life, 
triumphant  over  all  sin,  disease  and  death. 
Into  all  humanity  he  wants  to  come  with 
the  same  almighty  power  of  triumph.  We 
are  to  believe  that  he  is  in  us  for  such  an 

181 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

eternal  weight  and  witness  of  glory.  In 
each  of  us  is  this  second  coming  of  God  in 
Christ  to  be  completed  if  we  will  only  believe 
it.  This  confidence  will  hasten  the  day  of 
the  race's  universal  deliverance.  Sometime, 
somehow  and  somewhere,  known  only  to  the 
Father,  the  great  harvest  of  souls  will  ripen 
into  this  triumphant  faith.  Then  we  will 
be  "caught  up  to  be  forever  with  the  Lord." 
Living  thus  with  "Christ  within  us  the 
hope  of  glory,"  the  chief  shepherd  of  our 
souls  hath  indeed  to  us  already  appeared. 
From  his  hands  we  have  received  our  crown 
of  the  sinless,  sickless,  deathless  life  by 
faith  in  his  name.  It  is  a  crown  of  life  no 
man  can  take  from  us,  and  which  fadeth  not 
away.  This  faith  with  its  wondrous  fruition 
will  make  us  living  witnesses,  demonstrat- 
ing both  the  first  and  second  coming  of  our 
blessed  Lord,  and  our  part  with  him  now 
and  forever,  in  both  his  first  and  second 
resurrection. 


182 


XIII. 
THE    TAP-ROOT   OF    SIN    REMOVED. 

At  a  ministerial  retreat  of  the  clergy  of 
Chicago,  a  few  years  ago,  some  one  asked, 
"What,  in  a  word,  is  the  great  message  of 
redemption,  as  it  fell  from  the  lips  of  Jesus?" 
Almost  instantly  came  the  reply,  "Have 
faith  in  God."  It  seemed  there  was  at  once 
by  common  consent  a  "loud  Amen"  from 
all  present  in  that  sacred  gathering,  where 
men  were  closeted  for  a  closer  walk  with 
one  another  and  with  God,  that  they  might 
become  better  instruments  through  which 
the  "power  from  on  high"  might  be  brought 
to  bear  more  mightily  upon  the  lives  of  men, 
to  make  them  realize  their  divine  inheri- 
tance as  sons  of  the  Highest. 

What  Jesus  thus  said,  all  the  wisest  in 
heavenly  things  feel  the  all-power  of  also. 
It  was  this  that  made  the  great  Scotch 
theologian,  Marcus  Dods,  say,  "If  a  man 
only  believe  in  God,  I  cannot  see  what  more 
he  needs."  The  tap-root  of  all  02ir  sins  is 
that  ive  have  not  faith  in  God.  Paul,  the 
great  formulator  of  the  message  that  has 
transformed  the  entire  world,  puts  it  most 
pungently   and   powerfully   "Whatsoever   is 

183 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

not  of  faith  is  sin."  If  any  man  believes 
anything  is  too  hard  for  the  Lord,  that 
moment  he  sins  in  his  heart;  and  it  will  not 
be  long  till  the  seed  sown  in  the  soil  of  his 
soul  brings  forth  most  bitter  fruit,  for  the 
wrecking  of  the  joy  of  the  Lord  that  may 
be  in  his  heart.  All  power  in  heaven  and 
earth  is  given  unto  God.  He  wants  to  be- 
stow upon  his  children  this  unspeakable 
possession  also,  so  that  nothing  will  ever 
stand  between  a  wish  and  a  possession,  a 
desire  and  a  deed.  This  was  the  last  and 
crowning  revelation  he  made  to  humanity 
through  Jesus,  as  his  one  great  final  and 
full  desire  for  us  all. 

Just  as  Jesus  was  about  to  ascend  up  on 
high,  the  last  great  word  that  fell  from  his 
lips  to  the  waiting  ears  of  humanity  was: 
"All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and 
in  earth.  Go  and  tell  this  good  news  to  all 
the  world.  The  Holy  Spirit  of  the  living 
God  was  to  come  and  take  this  thing  of  Jesus, 
as  it  does  all  things  of  his  blessed  experience, 
and  make  it  real  to  us  also.  The  last 
great  thing  that  the  Spirit  is  to  take  and 
make  real  in  us  is  that  all  things  are  possible 
to  those  ivho  believe,  as  truly  as  all  things 
are  possible  to  God. 

184 


The  Tap-Root  of  Sin  Removed 

Abraham,  "the  father  of  the  faithful," 
once  heard  the  words  of  the  angel  visitant, 
that  he  was  to  have  in  his  old  age  a  son  by 
Sarah,  who  was  long  past  the  years  of 
possible  motherhood.  He  laughed  at  the  un- 
reasonableness of  the  revelation.  Though 
he  was  one  who  walked  by  faith  as  none  had 
done  before,  here  his  faith  faltered.  He 
staggered  in  his  religious  life  by  unbelief; 
and  this  sin  sowed  the  seed  of  the  Satanic 
in  his  heart.  Again  the  same  message  was 
made  known  by  the  heavenly  messenger  to 
Sarah.  Although  a  woman,  and  one  who 
naturally  would  walk  far  more  by  faith 
than  a  man,  she  too  laughed  in  the  face  of  the 
heavenly  visitant  at  the  impossible  announce- 
ment. Then  rang  out  the  words  which 
have  sounded  like  a  clarion  call  down  the 
ages,  "Is  anything  too  hard  for  the  Lord?" 
And  Abraham  believed  God  in  this  specific 
promise,  though  it  was  in  the  face  of  all 
past  experience,  and  his  heart  was  made  glad 
thereby  with  the  ring  of  righteousness. 

There  has  come  another  messenger  to 
earth  who  is  greater  by  far  in  his  faith  than 
Abraham,  the  faith-father  of  the  race.  It 
is  Jesus,  the  angel  of  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant of  God  to  men.      He  is  the  one  who 

185 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

came  to  tell  us  that  God  wants  to  take  all 
men  up  into  blood-covenant  with  himself. 
The  Orient  knows  the  divineness  of  this  holy- 
compact.  It  means  that  as  members  of  this 
blessed  covenant,  each  will  do  for  the  other 
all  he  would  for  himself.  It  means  that 
those  thus  united  are  one  in  the  possession 
of  all  power  either  may  possess.  God, 
through  Jesus,  thus  wants  to  join  himself  to 
the  race.  He  did  this  most  truly  in  Jesus; 
so  that  the  "Only  Begotten"  felt  that  all  that 
God  was,  he  possessed,  by  the  grace  of  the 
Highest.  He  felt  the  holy  unity,  and  all  the 
power  of  heaven  and  earth  that  flowed  from 
it.  He  walked  by  this  faith  that  grew  more 
and  more  marvelous  every  moment,  until  at 
last  it  leaped  to  the  "everlasting  therefore" 
that  fell  from  his  lips  at  his  last  moments — 
"All  power  in  heaven  and  earth  is  given  unto 
me."  All  that  I  desire  I  shall  have.  God 
withholds  nothing  from  the  child  of  his  like- 
ness and  the  child  of  his  love.  "Heaven 
can  be  had  for  the  asking,  and  God  himself 
is  given  away."  This  was  Jesus'  great  dis- 
covery for  the  recovery  of  the  race.  To 
doubt  this  was  the  greatest  disloyalty.  To 
doubt  it  was  to  be  downed  and  damned. 
This  faith  was  the  victory  by  which  Jesus 

186 


The  Tap-Root  of  Sin  Removed 

overcame  the  world.  So  this  faith  is  the 
victory  by  which  we  will  become  the  great 
victors  also.  This,  in  a  word,  was  the  sum 
and  substance  of  all  Christ  came  from 
heaven  to  say  to  men.  "Have  this  faith  in 
God!"  "Whatsoever-  is  not  of  this  faith  is 
sin."  Have  the  faith  of  "our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  which  is  faith  that  all  things  are 
possible  to  God,  and  "in  him"  all  things  are 
possible  to  those  who  believe.  It  is  the  good 
news  and  the  glad  tidings  to  be  heralded  the 
world  over,  as  far  as  there  is  sin  and  sorrow 
and  as  far  as  man  is  found.  Beyond  what 
ye  are  able  to  ask  or  think,  is  the  power  of 
God  to  do.  And  it  is  the  desire  of  God  to 
do,  for  his  glory  and  your  good.  Every 
wish  is  a  step  of  the  soul  heavenward.  It 
is  a  shutting  life  out  from  its  divine  power 
and  glory  with  a  dome  more  vast — from  the 
mighty  canopy  of  God  studded  with  the 
stars  of  innumerable  and  exhaustless  hopes. 
When  you  can  count  the  stars  of  the  heavens, 
you  can  count  the  desires  that  are  to  come 
into  the  human  heart.  These  all  are  made 
to  be  fulfilled.  Faith  is  the  way  by  which 
this  is  to  be  brought  about.  God  is  within 
thee,  thou  child  of  his  likeness  and  his  love. 
"Ask  of  me  and  I  will  give  the  heathen  for 

187 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

thy  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth  for  thy  possession."  And  even 
more  is  the  will  of  God  toward  us.  "Before 
you  call  upon  me  will  I  answer  you."  Prayer 
is  the  heart  reaching  for  its  divine  all-power. 
Desire  is  the  design  of  God  to  have  you  turn 
on  faith  at  this  very  point,  and  then  stand 
still  in  holy  confidence,  resting  assured 
that  as  truly  as  there  is  a  God  that  made  all 
heaven  and  earth,  and  revealed  himself  to 
thee  in  Jesus,  he  will  grant  the  desire  of 
every  heart,  as  by  our  faith  he  takes  of  the 
all-power  of  Jesus  and  makes  it  very  real 
to  us. 

Faith  that  God  sent  Jesus  into  the  world 
with  all  the  power  that  he  possessed,  only 
to  show  us  how  we  might  inherit  with  him 
and  the  Father  all  the  power  of  heaven  and 
earth,  is  the  faith  that  will  save  the  sinner, 
make  truly  wise  the  scientist,  and  set  one 
at  liberty  with  the  freedom  the  heart  yearns 
for  and  will  never  be  satisfied  till  it  actually 
possesses  it. 

Now  to  the  great  life  task,  as  Jesus  went 
about  it,  revealing  the  message  and  mission 
of  heaven  for  men,  so  that  the  wayfaring 
fool  need  not  miss  it.  He  showed  it; 
showed  how  it  could  be  done;  and  then  said 

188 


The  Tap-Root  of  Sin  Removed 

that  we  are  to  do  it,  and  demonstrate  it  as 
he  has,  and  in  even  greater  demonstations 
than  he  had  been  able  to  make  manifest,  as 
the  glory  of  the  Father  for  every  one  of  us. 

We  are  to  get  busy  on  this,  our  Father's 
business.  We  are  sent  into  the  world  to 
demonstrate  the  all-power  of  heaven  and 
earth,  by  faith.  We  are  to  show  that  noth- 
ing is  too  hard  for  the  Lord,  and  nothing  is 
too  hard  for  his  children  to  accomplish. 
We  are  to  show  that  the  wish  is  not  only 
the  father  of  the  thought,  but  that  the  wish 
will  bring  forth  the  desire  of  the  heart,  if 
by  faith  we  turn  on  the  currents  of  God  to 
bring  it  forth.  Every  test  of  this  glorious 
truth  must  make  us  ever  a  more  powerful 
living  witness  of  the  power  of  God  unto  the 
perfect  salvation,  through  faith.  We  are 
sent  into  the  kingdom  to  show  this.  It  is 
the  unfinished  work  Jesus  left  us  to  do;  to 
fill  up  the  unfinished  task  that  will  make  all 
the  earth  happy  with  joy  of  the  sons  of  light. 
We  are  to  face  every  foe  that  man  ever  can 
meet,  and  to  do  it  in  faith.  The  walls  that 
have  shut  us  out  from  anything  we  may 
desire  will  go  down  under  this  faith  test, 
as  truly  as  Jericho's  walls  fell  before  the 
encircling  armies  of  the  faithful  Israelite. 

189 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

We  live  little,  cribbed  and  cabined  lives, 
beating  them  out  against  the  bars  of  our 
little  being,  simply  because  we  do  not  believe 
that  all  things  are  possible  with  God,  and 
all  things  are  possible  with  us,  if  we  only 
believe  it.  If  we  will  ask,  believing,  that 
the  life  of  God  will  do  the  things  we  ask  for 
his  glory  and  our  good,  he  will  do  it.  The 
Spirit  of  life  within  us,  as  truly  as  in  Jesus, 
is  to  grow  such  Christ-like  faith.  The  root 
of  all  our  sins  is  in  the  simple  fact  that  we 
will  not  believe,  and  will  not  put  faith  to 
test  along  the  lines  that  Jesus  so  clearly 
marked  out,  as  the  lines  of  God's  great  faith- 
work  for  us. 

Jesus,  by  precept  and  practice,  most 
clearly  pointed  out  the  lines  along  which  we 
are  to  grow  in  our  faith  tests. 

First,  in  the  presence  of  all  sins  we  are  to 
believe  that  God  is  greater  than  all  sin,  and 
that  he  is  in  the  sinner  by  the  power  of  "the 
Eternal  Spirit,"  to  banish  all  sins  forever. 
He  wants  to  "put  them  behind  his  back,"  to 
"bury  them  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,"  and 
"to  banish  them  forever  as  far  as  the  east 
is  from  the  west."  As  we  believe  his  in- 
dwelling presence  will  do  this  heaven-trans- 
forming  work,    we   will    see   this   gracious 

190 


The  Tap-Root  of  Sin  Removed 

change  brought  about  as  by  some  magic 
wand  of  glory.  Oh,  the  wonders  of  his 
redemptive  grace.  The  vilest  sinner  is 
changed  into  the  most  heavenly  saint.  And 
to  see  this  wondrous  change  take  place  right 
under  one's  own  eyes,  as  by  faith  we  hold 
the  sinner  up  to  God,  for  the  Spirit  of  his 
divine  life  within  him  to  do  this  marvelous 
work — this  is  the  world's  greatest  miracle 
of  grace. 

One  of  the  greatest  bishops  in  the  Metho- 
dist church  has  recently  said  that  early 
Christendom  began  to  lose  its  spiritual 
power  just  when  it  lost  a  living  faith  in  the 
divine  democracy  of  our  High  Priestly  office. 
Christendom  will  only  come  to  itself  and 
come  to  its  own,  when  awakened  anew,  and 
with  even  greater  power,  to  the  fact  that 
we  are  indeed  all  priests  unto  God,  and  joint 
heirs  with  Jesus  in  this  sin  absolving  office. 
It  is  in  the  declaration  and  demonstration 
of  our  power  in  this,  our  first  and  greatest 
inheritance  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  we  will  be 
panoplied  with  "power  from  on  high."  This 
will  quicken  the  dead  world  into  wondrous 
newness  of  life,  by  thus  messaging  the  won- 
derful power  of  the  universal  salvation  to 
it.     Simply  because  the  Romish  church  has 

191 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

often  made  a  trade  and  travesty  of  this  al- 
mighty truth  is  no  reason  that  Protestantism 
should  practically  ignore  and  abandon  it. 
"Whosoever  sins  ye  forgive  they  shall  be 
forgiven  them"  is  as  truly  Christ's  com- 
mand for  all  and  forever,  as  that  we  should 
"go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel," 
with  these  signs  following  as  the  evidence 
of  the  new  birth  of  the  believer. 

Then  along  the  lines  of  healing  broken 
bodies  as  in  cleansing  sin-stained  hearts,  we 
will  be  followers  of  Jesus  in  this  holy  task. 
We  will  sit  in  the  presence  of  the  sick  ones, 
confident  that  nothing  is  too  hard  for  the 
Lord  to  do,  in  the  restoration  to  health  of 
every  phase  of  sickness,  as  truly  as  there  is 
no  sin  that  he  cannot  forever  banish.  As 
we  thus  believe,  we  will  see  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  marvelous  transformation  that  is 
brought  about.  Oh,  what  a  mystery  and 
what  a  message  is  this!  It  is  indeed  good 
news  and  glad  tidings  for  all  the  earth. 
Our  faith,  like  the  faith  of  our  "Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,"  restores  the  sick  ones 
as  truly  as  redeems  the  sinner.  We  see 
health,  like  holiness,  coming  forth  before 
our  very  eyes.  Wonderful  is  this  mystery 
of  Godliness.      Wonderful  is  the  power  of 

192 


The  Tap-Root  of  Sin  Removed 

God  through  faith  unto  the  perfect  and  com- 
plete salvation  from  every  sickness.  This 
is  the  way  God  wants  us  to  be  living  wit- 
nesses of  him  who  is  "the  Great  Physician" 
as  well  as  the  almighty  sin-saviour.  This 
makes  us  the  salt  of  the  earth  to  save,  and 
the  light  of  the  world  to  make  men  see  that 
faith  in  God  is  the  key  to  solve  every  prob- 
lem that  perplexes  and  every  riddle  of 
existence. 

There  is  a  third  thing  that  God  wants  us 
to  do  by  faith  that  is  away  beyond  the 
specific  acts  of  restoring  sinners  to  right- 
eousness and  heaing  the  wretched,  wrecked 
in  health.  It  is  to  reproduce  the  spirit  of 
this  faith-life  in  others,  that  fills  the  life  of 
Jesus,  and  is  his  great  bestowal  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  upon  us. 

The  last  function  in  our  physical  creation 
which  is  awakened  and  developed  is  that  of 
reproduction.  It  is  the  highest  and  the 
holiest,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Satan  has 
torn  it  from  its  heavenly  pedestal,  and 
trailed  its  divine  glory  in  the  dust.  So  in 
the  spiritual  life,  the  greatest  work  of  the 
"twice  born"  ones  is  the  reproduction  of  the 
spiritual  life.  We  are  to  give  to  others  the 
life  of  faith  that  has  been  given  to  us.     This 

193 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

is  what  is  meant  by  the  imparting  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  greatest 
question  that  can  be  asked  of  the  "twice 
born"  ones  is,  "Have  ye  received  the  Holy 
Ghost?"  It  was  the  password  into  the  early 
church ;  it  is  meant  of  heaven  to  be  the  pass- 
word into  God's  great  kingdom  of  heaven 
and  power  every  place.  If  you  have  become 
the  great  possessor  of  this  richest  of  all 
heaven's  gifts,  you  will  want  to  impart  the 
life  to  others.  The  desire  for  reproduction 
in  the  spiritual  realm  is  greater  by  far  than 
the  desire  for  reproduction  in  the  realm  of 
the  physical  life.  "Have  ye  received  the 
Holy  Ghost?"  If  so,  some  soul  will  want 
you  to  impart  it  to  him ;  and  you  will  breathe 
upon  others  the  Spirit  that  Jesus  breathed 
upon  his  disciples,  when  he  said  at  the  last 
meeting  after  the  resurrection,  "Receive  ye 
the  Holy  Ghost."  We  can  have  and  can  im- 
part this  most  priceless  gift  of  heaven  to 
earth.  It  is  ours  to  have  and  ours  to  impart. 
And  we  are  far  from  the  kingdom  in  its 
power  till  we  are  about  our  Father's  busi- 
ness in  this  third  and  highest  and  most 
blessed  work. 

Here  is  the  faith  in  the  Father  that  takes 

194 


The   Tap-Root  of  Sin  Removed 

the  tap-root  of  sin  out  of  the  soul  and  makes 
us  feel  our  God-oneness  with  Christ  Jesus. 
It  is  a  faith  by  which  we  are  "justified  in 
Christ  Jesus."  We  can  just  defy  sin,  when- 
ever and  wherever  it  may  most  satanically 
attack  us.  It  is  a  faith  by  which  we  are  "al- 
so sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus."  We  are  made 
perfect  by  the  indwelling  and  the  outwork- 
ing of  the  truth  of  God  that  abideth  with 
and  within  us  forever.  And  best  of  all  it  is 
a  faith  in  which  we  "are  glorified  in  Christ 
Jesus."  By  it  we  are  changed  from  "glory 
unto  glory"  or  from  "character  unto  char- 
acter," as  Henry  Drummond,  the  great 
"Scotch  Apollo  of  righteousness,"  so  loved 
to  put  it.  All  of  this  great  work  of  grace 
will  go  on  till  we  are  come  in  the  unity  of 
the  Spirit  into  the  stature  of  the  perfect 
man  Christ  Jesus,  which  is  the  express  image 
of  God's  perfect  likeness. 

All  the  world  is  waiting  for  a  more  divine 
demonstration  of  this  great  work  of  God, 
heaven  is  asking  the  God-children  of  earth 
to  take  up  and  carry  to  the  completion  as 
their  great  world-task.  All  who  will  taste 
and  see  may  test  and  see  that  it  is  the  sole 
solvent  of  all  the  world's  sorrows,  and  the 
solution  of  all  its  problems,  and  the  com- 

195 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

plete  overcoming  in  an  everlasting  triumph 
of  every  difficulty  we  will  ever  have  to  face ; 
and  will  give  us  wisdom  and  power  from  on 
high  to  complete  every  task  we  are  called 
upon  to  accomplish. 


196 


XIV. 

HOW  THE  LIGHT  CAME  AND  THE 
FIRE   FELL. 

There  was  nothing  that  Paul  looked  back 
to  with  greater  wonder  and  delight,  than  the 
great  turning  point  in  his  spiritual  career 
when,  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  "God's  glory 
smote  him  on  the  face,"  and  he  was  turned 
right  about  face,  toward  humanity  and  the 
risen  Lord  ever  afterward. 

Three  times  in  the  book  of  Acts  the  story 
of  the  great  transformation  is  told,  at  the 
greatest  length.  Twice  the  tale  falls  from 
his  own  lips,  and  once  again  from  the  nar- 
rator who  must  have  heard  it  from  the  lips 
of  the  "God-intoxicated  man  of  Tarsus," 
with  a  most  telling  power. 

When  God  gives  a  heavenly  message  to 
anyone,  he  cannot  help  but  want  to  tell  "how 
the  light  came  that  never  shone  on  land  or 
sea,"  and  how  "the  fire  fell"  that  has  lighted 
up  a  flame  on  his  heart-altar  that  grows 
brighter  and  brighter  unto  the  coming  of 
the  perfect  day. 

The  glory  of  such  a  message  is  not  to 
one's  self  but  unto  God,  by  whose  grace  such 
a  message  was  given,  to  be  given  out  to 

197 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

others,  that  they  too  might  be  partakers  of 
the  heavenly  joy. 

Inasmuch  as  the  message  of  these  pages 
seems  "almost  too  big  to  be  believed  and  too 
good  to  be  true,"  as  a  dear  friend  has  writ- 
ten, perhaps  the  writer  will  be  pardoned, 
and  the  reader  helped,  to  know  how  the 
"open  vision"  came  that  has  brought  the 
great  conviction  which  is  as  fundamental  to 
him  as  the  axioms  of  mathematics,  and  as 
undownable  and  as  undeniable  as  the  fact 
that  "he  thinks  and  therefore  he  is." 

Through  all  my  college  days,  and  es- 
pecially during  the  last  week  of  my  college 
life,  there  was  a  great  burden  on  my  heart 
to  know  "the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and 
nothing  but  the  truth"  about  one's  personal 
relationship  to  Jesus  and  to  God.  Ever 
since  a  child  I  had  been  nominally  connected 
with  the  church.  But  this  meant  little  more 
than  a  sense  of  blind  bondage,  which  brought 
far  more  fear  than  joy.  Three  days  before 
graduating  I  asked  my  professor  in  Phi- 
losophy and  Ethics  if  we  could  not  talk  the 
whole  matter  over.  I  thought  surely  this 
would  bring  "surcease  of  sorrow,"  and  light 
into  the  depths  of  darkness  that  filled  my 
soul.      This  we  did,  as  we  walked  over  the 

198 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

hills  for  three  hours.  He  tried  to  tell  me 
what  "faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  was. 
When  it  was  all  over  I  must  confess  there 
was  nothing  left  but  deeper  soul  darkness 
and  a  heartache  that  was  sadder  and  deeper 
than  words  can  tell.  When  we  parted  and 
I  returned  to  my  room,  it  did  indeed  seem 
as  though  the  day  of  doom  had  come.  I  had 
hungered  for  the  bread  of  heaven  and  had 
not  gotten  in  return  even  a  stone.  Then 
I  said  to  myself,  "It  is  finished."  Chris- 
tianity as  I  had  known  it  from  experience 
or  from  the  lips  of  another  means  nothing 
more  to  me. 

Of  course  there  came  a  sense  of  great  re- 
lief when,  Pilate-like,  I  had  washed  my 
hands,  and  said  I  would  have  nothing  more 
to  do  "with  this  just  man."  Fear  of  God 
gave  place  to  confidence  in  myself.  I  felt 
I  was  to  go  out  into  life  and  make  my  own 
mark  in  the  world.  Our  destiny,  I  thought, 
is  to  be  found  in  ourselves  and  not  "in  our 
stars."  From  teaching  I  soon  found  my- 
self drifting  into  business. 

One  hot  afternoon  in  July,  in  far-off  North 
Dakota,  I  was  standing  on  a  high  lumber 
pile.  Many  wagons  were  waiting  in  the 
large  lumber  yard  to  be  loaded.      The  yard 

199 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

was  a  great  distributing  center  for  lumber 
throughout  the  whole  Northwest,  in  those 
days.  While  I  was  standing  there,  half 
musing,  I  incidentally  or  accidentally  heard 
someone  say,  "I  want  as  much  lumber  as 
this  will  buy."  There  was  something  in  the 
ring  of  the  voice  that  attracted  me  instantly. 
I  stopped  and  looked  in  the  direction  from 
whence  the  words  came.  There  stood  an 
Indian  dressed  in  citizen's  clothes,  I  got 
down  from  the  high  lumber  pile  I  was  on  at 
once.  I  said  to  the  salesman  who  was  wait- 
ing on  the  Indian,  "Let  me  'tend  to  this 
man."  Then  I  said  to  the  Indian,  "What  is 
it  you  want,  my  friend?"  He  looked  at  me 
with  an  expression  on  his  face  which  seemed 
one  of  the  sweetest  and  most  heavenly  I 
ever  saw.  Then  he  held  out  in  his  hand 
two  silver  dollars,  saying,  "I  want  as  much 
lumber  as  this  will  buy."  At  once  I  replied, 
"Well,  friend,  two  dollars  won't  buy  much 
lumber  in  this  country.  What  do  you  want 
the  lumber  for?"  He  then  went  on  to  tell 
how  he  had  come  down  from  Fort  Totten, 
sixty-nine  miles  away.  He  came  thinking 
that  he  could  get  enough  lumber  perhaps  to 
build  a  little  building  where  he  could  teach 
his  people  something  of  what  he  had  learned 

200 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

at  the  Indian  School  at  Carlyle;  and  also 
could  preach  to  them  the  story  of  Jesus  on 
the  Sabbath  day.  Almost  instantly  my  heart 
was  touched  to  the  quick,  by  his  words. 
There  was  such  a  ring  of  righteousness  and 
the  real  in  them,  that  I  would  have  given 
him,  then  and  there,  the  whole  lumber  yard, 
had  it  been  mine  to  give  away. 

I  got  for  him  the  lumber  which  he  wanted, 
and  saw  that  his  wagon  was  loaded  as  it 
should  be  for  the  long  journey  to  his  far-off 
home.  As  he  drove  away,  I  felt  I  was  part- 
ing with  a  friend  I  had  known  forever. 
There  was  such  an  emptiness  in  my  heart 
at  the  leaving  of  this  man  of  God. 

As  he  was  departing  I  asked  him  where 
he  was  stopping;  for  I  felt  I  must  see  him 
again.  He  told  me  he  was  going  to  camp 
over  Sunday  on  the  hill  just  above  the  town. 
This  being  Saturday,  he  did  not  wish  to  re- 
turn home  at  once,  for  by  so  doing  he  would 
have  to  travel  on  the  Sabbath  day. 

The  next  afternoon  I  found  myself  going 
as  soon  as  I  could  up  to  where  the  little 
Indian  camp  was.  There  the  "good  Indian" 
was  lying  on  his  blankets  in  his  Indian 
tepee.  His  little  boy  of  seven  was  at  his 
side.      Before  him,  squaw-like,  was  seated 

201 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

his  wife,  near  by.  He  was  reading  to  them 
out  of  the  Gospel  of  John.  It  seemed  to 
me  I  never  had  seen  a  face  lighted  up  with 
such  a  glow  of  God's  glory  as  was  his.  I 
felt  it  must  have  been  like  that  of  the  apostle 
who  leaned  on  Jesus'  bosom,  and  whose 
words  he  was  reading  to  his  dear  ones.  As 
I  looked  upon  him,  it  seemed  the  very  fire  of 
heaven  began  to  burn  in  my  own  heart, 
when  I  heard  him  opening  up  to  them  the 
scriptures  by  the  way.  I  felt,  then  and 
there,  I  would  sooner  by  far  have  in  my  heart 
the  peace  and  joy  of  God  that  poor  Indian 
had,  than  be  the  richest  man  in  the  world. 
Surely,  I  thought,  he  had  found  the  pearl  of 
great  price.  How  gladly  would  I  have  sold 
all  and  bought  it,  if  only  I  could  have,  what 
he  most  surely  had. 

That  night  I  felt  that  I  must  know  more 
of  God,  and  of  his  Christ,  who  was  surely 
the  world's  only  light  and  life.  I  had  seen 
the  living  light  in  a  moment  least  expected, 
as  it  was  reflected  from  the  Light  of  the 
World  into  the  heart  of  an  untutored  savage. 
What  my  college  and  my  college  professor 
had,  for  some  reason  or  other,  utterly  failed 
to  do,  this  poor  Indian  did  do.     He  had  led 

202 


Hoiv  the  Light  Came  ayid  the  Fire  Fell 

me  to  the  living  Christ  and  "the  well  of 
water  springing  up  unto  everlasting  life." 

As  soon  as  I  could,  I  arranged  my  business 
interests,  and  went  straight  to  the  Theologi- 
cal Seminary.  I  felt  1  must  prepare  myself 
to  preach  this  good  news  and  glad  tidings, 
which  I  had  felt  so  powerfully,  yet  so  in- 
completely, was  the  only  power  given  under 
the  whole  heaven  to  redeem  the  whole  wide 
world.  Nothing  in  all  the  world  could  have 
kept  me  from  taking  this  step. 

When  I  wrote  the  good  news  of  my  great 
discovery  and  my  great  life  recovery  to  my 
dear  father,  he  was  filled  with  joy  and  grati- 
tude beyond  measure.  At  once  he  replied 
that  he  felt  sure  the  day  would  come  when 
this  great  experience  would  be  mine.  He 
told  me  how  he  had  given  me  to  God  in  holy 
baptism  and  prayed  then  and  there  and  ever 
afterward,  that  when  I  should  see  Christ,  I 
should  long  to  proclaim  him,  and  might  en- 
ter the  ministry  for  this  blessed  service. 
He  further  said  he  never  doubted  but  what 
this  would  come  true. 

The  first  seven  years  of  my  ministry  were 
given  to  preaching  this  only  power  of  sal- 
vation from  sin.  God  gave  abundant  evi- 
dence that  it  was  indeed  the  only  power 
given  under  heaven  to  save. 

203 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

Then  came  a  new  day  of  darkness.  Over- 
work, "burning  the  candle  at  both  ends"; 
doing  all  kinds  of  literary  work  in  addition 
to  the  cares  of  the  pastorate,  sent  me  past 
the  tension  point.  The  crisis  and  the  crash 
came.  I  was  left  almost  a  complete  physi- 
cal wreck,  with  little  or  no  hope  of  ever 
again  being  restored  to  health.  The  best 
physicians  of  both  Chicago  and  Cleveland 
had  no  word  of  encouragement  to  give.  As 
a  last  resort,  after  going  up  and  down  the 
earth  seeking  health  and  finding  none,  I  de- 
cided to  go  to  a  sanatorium.  The  heavenly 
hospice  was  located  at  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  spots  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Many  say  Switzerland  has  no  more  lovely 
scenery  than  one  finds  all  about  this  "Home 
on  the  Hillside."  There  I  remained  for 
five  days,  with  no  evidence  that  the  place 
would  be  to  me  a  place  of  help.  I  then  de- 
cided to  go  home  to  die.  The  night  before 
I  was  to  leave,  I  read  a  little  leaflet  written 
by  the  founder  of  the  institution,  who  had 
then  been  dead  for  some  years.  It  was 
placed  in  my  hands,  most  incidentally  I 
thought,  by  a  missionary  who  was  stopping 
there.  I  do  not  recall  now  much  of  anything 
that  was  in  the  little  pamphlet,  save  these 

204 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

burning,  blessed  words:  "Ther^e  is  no  more 
reason  for  a  man  being  sick  than  a  sinner." 
They  pierced  my  heart  like  an  arrow  feath- 
ered of  heaven,  and  sent  by  the  bow  of 
promise  drawn  by  the  hand  of  God.  The 
words  were  even  more  impressive  and  life- 
awakening  to  me  than  was  the  meeting  with 
the  Indian  in  the  far-off  Northwest  years 
before. 

I  read  them  again  and  again.  Every 
time  they  seemed  to  be  surcharged  with  more 
heavenly  power.  Then  there  came  to  my 
mind  a  host  of  Bible  passages  emphasizing 
the  truth  of  this  good  news.  Above  all  was 
the  great  passage  which  is  the  middle  verse 
of  all  the  Bible,  "Who  forgiveth  all  thy  sins 
and  healeth  all  thy  diseases."  It  seemed  to 
me  as  clear  as  a  beam  of  sunlight,  and  came 
home  to  my  heart  for  the  first  time  with 
power,  that  there  was  indeed  "a  fountain 
opened  up  in  the  house  of  David  for  all  sin 
and  uncleanness."  I  saw  that  sickness,  like 
sin,  is  to  go  by  faith  in  God's  power  to  heal, 
as  truly  as  God's  potver  to  save.  Sick  bodies 
like  "sick  souls"  were  to  be  made  whole  by 
the  incoming  Spirit  of  the  same  blessed 
Saviour,  who  was  "the  Great  Physician"  as 
well  as  the  Great  Redeemer  of  the  world. 

205 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

Why  had  I  not  seen  this  long  before!  Why 
had  my  eyes  been  so  long  holden  that  they 
could  not  "see  the  scriptures"  on  this  point 
which  now  were  ablaze  with  this  light  of 
God. 

Then  came  into  my  heart  words  that 
seemed  just  for  me,  "If  thou  wilt  thou  canst 
make  me  whole."  I  could  not  help  but  re- 
peat them  over  and  over  again.  God  who 
gave  them,  gave  the  conviction  that  they 
were  words  that  any  sick  one  could  take  and 
appropriate  as  his  own.  Surely  God  was 
no  respecter  of  persons  in  the  giving  of  the 
life  of  heaven  in  his  promises  of  love.  I 
felt  that  God  did  not  desire  the  death  of  any 
sick  one,  any  more  than  any  sinner.  All 
that  is  left  for  us  to  do  to  be  healed  is  to 
accept  this  as  his  gracious  purpose  for  all, 
and  as  our  own  rightful  inheritance.  We 
are  simply  to  believe  he  is  willing  and  able 
to  do  this  great  healing  work  that  he  sent 
his  Son  to  reveal  is  ever  the  will  of  God  for 
all.  No  language  can  tell  the  new-found 
joy  that  came  with  the  great  discovery.  I 
had  truly  learned  that  God  was  a  help  in 
every  time  of  need,  and  that  sickness,  like 
sin,  was  no  barrier  to  his  all-restoring  power. 
I  could  not  help  but  rise  from  my  knees  and 

206 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

pace  the  floor  in  thanksgiving.  /  counted 
the  work  done.  By  faith  I  had  taken  God 
at  his  word,  as  it  seemed  clear  to  me,  and  I 
was  sure  he  would  witness  to  the  power  of 
his  healing  help  in  his  own  good  time  and 
way.  I  said  again  and  again,  "I  am  luell. 
By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  well,  and  I  will 
henceforth  reckon  myself  ever  as  dead  to 
disease  as  to  sin."  And  it  ivas  done.  No 
one  could  have  had  a  more  clear  evidence  of 
the  touch  of  the  Great  Physician  with 
"healing  in  his  wings"  than  I  did  then  and 
there.  There  was  such  a  quickening  of  the 
mortal  diseased  body  under  the  Spirit's 
power  that  no  one  could  have  doubted  that 
he  is  ready  to  heal  as  truly  as  he  is  ever 
ready  to  save.  His  great  redemptive  work 
is  as  truly  a  cure  of  bodies  as  a  "cure  of 
souls."  The  restoration  was  doubtless  what 
psychologists  might  well  call  "the  explosive 
type  of  healing."  It  was  like  the  sudden 
soul-awakenings  at  "the  mourner's  bench" 
and  "penitent  forms,"  which  Prof.  James  has 
so  felicitously  called  "the  explosive  types  of 
conversion"  in  the  sudden  "new  birth"  of 
souls. 

This  sudden  healing  help  did  not  remain, 
just  as  sudden  changes  in  heart  conversions 

207 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

are  almost  invariably  attended  with  their 
"ups  and  downs"  till  the  final  full  light  of 
God  burns  steady,  as  it  leads  along  life's  holy 
highway.  But  the  vision  did  come  and  go, 
till  health  came  that  seems  an  ever-living 
miracle  of  grace,  that  comes  and  abides  for- 
ever, from  trust  in  God. 

The  day  after  this  great  "healing  ex- 
perience," I  was  out  for  a  morning  drive 
with  a  banker,  who  had  for  thirty  years 
been  a  most  prominent  elder  in  the  denomi- 
nation of  which  I  was  a  minister.  I  told 
him  of  the  wonderful  vision  of  the  night  be- 
fore, and  the  transformation  which  had 
come.  He  seemed  staggered  and  dumb- 
founded. Then  he  said,  in  utter  bewilder- 
ment, "Do  you  actually  mean  to  say  this 
thing  is  true!"  I  replied  that  I  could  not 
disbelieve  the  very  thing  I  had  experienced 
and  seen  with  my  own  eyes.  "Oh,  how  I 
wish  this  experience  could  be  mine  also," 
was  his  quick  reply.  Then  he  continued: 
"Give  me  the  little  leaflet.  Maybe  God  has 
such  a  message  of  health  for  me  too." 

After  our  drive,  he  retired  at  once  to  his 
room.  There  alone  with  God  he  read  and 
pondered  over  the  words  which  had  been  to 
me  of  such  miraculous  power.      Then  there 

208 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

came  also  to  him  the  same  mighty  message 
of  healing  and  help  and  soul-uplifting  power, 
that  had  come  the  night  before  to  me. 
When  I  went  into  his  room  later  to  see  him, 
his  face  was  beaming  with  the  most  heav- 
enly light.  Down  his  cheeks  were  stream- 
ing tears  of  inexpressible  joy.  He  had  in- 
deed also  passed  the  heavenly  highway 
from  sickness  to  health,  which  he  said  was 
more  wonderful  to  him  than  from  sin  to 
salvation.  He  too  had  taken  God  at  his 
word,  as  the  great  physician,  just  as  he 
took  him  for  the  great  Saviour  of  men 
years  before.  The  faith  had  brought  to 
him  the  priceless  witness  of  the  Spirit  that 
God  was  willing  and  able  to  instantly  heal 
if  we  will  only  believe. 

This  perhaps  is  not  the  place  to  tell  the 
joy  of  my  own  soul,  from  the  great  dis- 
covery of  the  power  of  God  here  and  now 
to  do  what  he  did  in  the  days  when  his 
Son  walked  the  earth,  as  the  great  Saviour 
of  men  and  the  healer  of  all  their  disesases. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  thing  that 
was  revealed  in  secret  seemed  to  me  so  won- 
derful and  such  a  blessing  for  all  men,  that 
I  could  scarcely  keep  from  "proclaiming  it 
on  the  housetops."      I  wondered  why  it  was 

209 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

not  even  mentioned  in  the  pulpits.  I 
searched  in  the  great  commentaries  to  see 
what  the  wisdom  of  the  schools  had  to  say 
about  this  "lost  art"  or  this  lost  article  in 
the  most  vital  creed  of  Jesus.  All  I  could 
find  was  that  it  was  a  special  gift  bestowed 
upon  the  early  church  to  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  men  to  the  great  work  of  salvation, 
alone  through  Christ  as  the  world's  Saviour. 
When  this  truth  was  once  thoroughly  estab- 
lished, "the  gift  of  healing"  naturally 
dropped  off  the  stock  of  the  growing  church 
life,  like  the  cotyledons  when  the  shoot  has 
come  sufficiently  above  the  soil.  But  this 
explanation  did  anything  but  satisfactorily 
explain  the  absence  of  the  lost  message  to 
my  own  heart.  I  felt  as  long  as  men  had 
sickness,  just  so  long  as  they  had  sin,  one 
would  expect  that  the  restoring  help  of  the 
Christ  should  come.  Did  not  Jesus  say, 
at  the  moment  of  his  final  departure, 
"These  signs  shall  follow  those  who  be- 
lieve"? Did  not  the  disciples  go  forth  pro- 
claiming the  word  with  boldness,  and  al- 
ways with  "signs  following"?  When  this 
law  of  the  Christ  was  outlawed  by  any  com- 
mand from  on  high,  either  direct  or  im- 
plied,   I    have    never    been    able    to    see, 

210 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

although  I  have  asked  many  and  many  of 
God's  wisest  why  they  believed  such  was  so. 
None  have  been  able  to  give  a  reason  that 
seemed  reasonable,  that  this  part  of  the 
universal  command  of  the  Christ  was  ever 
done  away  with,  this  blessed  law  was  out- 
lawed. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  can  most  truthfully 
say  that,  since  the  time  of  the  great  dis- 
covery of  "the  healing  presence  of  the 
seamless  robe"  of  Him  who  is  robed  with 
all  health  and  holiness  and  power,  /  have 
seen  absohitely  every  kind  of  disease  yield 
to  the  faith  touch.  Cancers  have  been 
cured;  consumptives  restored;  paralytics 
made  whole;  nervous  wrecks,  wretchedly 
wretched,  absolutely  cured;  little  ones  born 
without  the  birth  pangs  of  motherhood. 
These  have  not  been  mild  cases,  that  "would 
have  gotten  well  anyhow."  They  have 
nearly  all  been  cases  where  the  best  spec- 
ialists had  given  them  up  as  utterly  hope- 
less. They  had  declared  that  absolutely 
nothing  more,  that  they  knew  of,  could  be 
done  to  bring  about  a  cure.  The  most 
malignant  diseases  have  yielded  as  readily 
to  the  touch  of  faith  as  those  of  the  mildest 
forms.      The  cures  have  been  at  times  as 

211 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

immediate  as  under  the  touch  of  the 
Saviour  and  his  disciples,  and  as  miraculous 
seemingly  as  was  manifested  in  the  re- 
corded healings  of  the  New  Testament 
days.  When  one  puts  "faith  to  the  test," 
along  these  lines,  he  stands  utterly  dumb- 
founded, when  he  beholds  what  God  has 
wrought,  under  the  power  of  faith  in  those 
who  really  and  absolutely  believe. 

After  some  years  there  came  a  third 
moment  in  my  life  experience  which  seemed 
to  me  even  more  wondrous  and  necessary 
to  round  out  the  full-orbed  message  of  our 
Lord.  It  was  like  a  "third  day"  experi- 
ence in  the  revelation  of  the  full  and  com- 
plete salvation,  as  Jesus  through  the  Spirit 
would  reveal  the  wondrous  word. 

As  one  reads  the  Bible,  it  seems  that  it 
was  never  intended  that  one  should  have 
a  flitting  experience  of  the  Spirit's  joyous 
presence.  When  He,  the  Comforter,  should 
come,  he  would  abide  with  us  forever,  and 
we  should  have  the  abiding  witness  of  his 
presence  in  the  joy  of  Jesus,  which  would 
make  our  joy  ever  full.  This,  most  Chris- 
tians must  sadly  confess,  is  anything  but 
what  they  have.  Life  is  such  an  up  and 
down,  such  a  tick-tock,  tick-tock  from  light 

212 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

to  darkness,  and  darkness  to  light,  that 
the  world's  sorrow  is  far  more  to  them  than 
Christ's  abundant,  abiding  joy. 

As  I  saw  this,  there  came  a  deeper  long- 
ing for  what  the  Bible  calls  the  "baptism 
of  the  Spirit,"  which  would  do  away  for- 
ever with  this  checkered  heart-career, 
which  was  anything  but  a  joyous  career.  I 
began  to  read  all  the  devotional  works  I 
could  lay  my  hands  upon;  especially  those 
the  historic  church  held  to  be  almost  clas- 
sics, in  this  heavenly  literature.  I  was 
charmed  with  Madame  Guyon,  and  Fene- 
lon,  and  William  Law.  The  books  of 
Murry  and  Meyer  were  of  the  greatest  help- 
fulness, and  freighted  with  peace  and  joy. 
One  thing  only  I  tried  to  ever  avoid,  and 
that  was  books  upon  "Holiness."  I  had 
seen  so  many  "Holiness  people"  whose  lives 
were  so  unholy,  it  made  me  feel  I  did  not 
want  to  get  entangled  with  such  a  travesty 
of  truth  as  was  everywhere  evident  in  such 
lives  of  inconsistency.  One  little  book  on 
"Holy  in  Christ"  by  Murry  I  most  studi- 
ously avoided  even  opening,  lest  it  might 
lead  me  into  the  meshes  of  the  fallacy  I 
thought  had  led  so  many  astray. 

One  day,  however,   in  the  depths  of  de- 

213 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

spair  of  ever  finding  "the  rest  that  re- 
maineth  for  the  people  of  God,"  I  picked 
up  on  the  street  a  little  circular  announcing 
the  coming  to  the  city  of  a  Colonel  Brengle, 
styled  "The  Apostle  of  Holiness,"  in  the 
Salvation  Army  world.  There  was  some- 
thing in  the  very  picture  of  the  face  of  the 
man  on  the  little  dodger  that  touched  my 
soul.  I  thought  I  must  go  and  see  if  there 
was  really  anything  in  this  man's  message 
that  my  heart  was  so  hungry  for,  and  which 
I  felt  I  would  die,  if  I  did  not  have. 

I  went  to  the  summer  camp  by  the  lake- 
side, where  the  Colonel  was  speaking  daily. 
As  soon  as  my  eyes  fell  upon  his  face,  there 
came  to  me  instantly,  as  when  I  met  the 
Indian  in  the  far  west  years  before,  that 
he  did  indeed  possess  what  my  heart  so 
yearned  for.  His  face  was  beaming  with 
joy  and  baptised  with  a  peace  that  showed 
that  truly  he  was  one  led  marvelously  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  I  talked  to  him,  and  told 
him  of  the  hunger  of  my  heart  for  the  peace 
of  God.  He  told  me  how  he  had  passed 
that  same  holy  yet  horrible  way;  and  of 
the  heart  hunger  that  came  to  him,  which 
seemingly  never  would  be  satisfied.  He 
told    me    how    during    these    moments    of 

214 


How  the  Light  Came  a7id  the  Fire  Fell 

reaching  after  a  fuller  presence  of  God, 
he  was  pastor  of  one  of  the  leading  churches 
in  Boston.  "But  God  does  fill  the  hungry 
heart  with  himself,"  he  said,  "else  why 
does  he  say  'Blessed  are  those  who  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness,  for  they 
shall  be  filled'."  He  went  on  to  tell  how 
he  had  sought  the  Lord  most  earnestly  and 
that  he  had  indeed  revealed  to  him  most 
blessedly  that  the  joy  of  our  salvation  was 
a  perpetual  blessing,  and  that  the  power  of 
Pentecost  was  something  that  God  does  not 
want  to  have  pass  away. 

What  followed  was  to  me  the  greatest 
moment  in  the  history  of  my  soul.  This 
is  no  place  to  tell  just  how  the  light  came 
and  the  fire  fell.  All  I  need  to  say  is,  that 
on  that  night  I  said  to  God,  as  I  retired, 
"I  know  that  Thy  promise  is  that  the  Com- 
forter whom  Christ  will  send  is  to  remain 
with  us  always,  and  that  Jesus  said  he 
will  come  into  our  lives  so  that  His  joy 
shall  remain  with  us,  and  our  joy  shall  be 
full."  Hitherto  I  had  struggled  and  striven 
for  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as 
Jacob  wrestled  with  the  angel  until  the 
morning.  I  found  myself  instantly  stop- 
ping    all  this.      I  said  also  "I  have  asked 

215 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

thee,  O  God,  for  what  thou  hast  said  thou 
art  more  willing  and  ready  to  give  than 
parents  to  give  good  things  unto  their  chil- 
dren. /  will  take  by  faith  what  you  have 
offered  and  what  I  most  desire."  Faith 
seemed  to  me  then,  as  never  before,  to  be 
the  faculty  for  us  "to  have  and  to  hold" 
this  gift  of  all  gifts  of  God  for  the  soul. 
I  simply  accepted,  then  and  there,  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  mine;  and  believed  I 
would  have  all  the  witness  of  the  presence 
of  the  Spirit  that  I  wanted,  and  more  than 
I  was  able  to  wish  or  think  I  could  ever 
have.  I  counted  the  whole  transaction 
forever  done,  as  I  had  in  my  salvation  from 
sin,  and  restoration  to  health  from  disease. 
God  had  promised  this  as  surely  as  he  has 
promised  anything  in  his  world  or  Word. 
And  I  believed  that  he  would  surely  fulfill 
his  promise  in  me. 

The  next  morning  as  I  awoke  it  seemed 
as  though  I  were  in  Paradise!  There  was 
borne  in  upon  my  heart,  by  a  most  wonder- 
ful witness  of  the  Spirit,  a  new  discovery. 
It  was  that  there  was  indeed  such  a  thing 
as  being  "baptised  of  the  Holy  Ghost"; 
and  that  He  would  abide  with  us  forever,  and 
give  us  the  joy  and  power  and  peace  that 

216 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

Jesus  said  he  would.  Moment  by  moment 
the  Spirit  was  indeed  taking  of  the 
things  of  Jesus,  the  words  of  Jesus,  and  mak- 
ing them  full  of  the  richest,  rarest  meaning 
to  my  soul.  I  never  dreamed  it  was  possible 
to  be  one  with  such  a  heavenly  interpreter. 
I  saw  now  what  Jesus  meant  when  he  said 
there  were  many  things  he  could  not  say 
to  his  disciples,  but  the  Comforter,  when 
he  would  come,  would  make  them  clear. 
He  would  take  all  the  dark  words  of  Jesus 
and  make  them  light  and  life  to  the  soul, 
and  would  also  show  the  new  heart  things 
to  come.  This  he  was  actually  doing 
moment  by  moment  to  me;  till  I  felt  like 
saying  with  Finney,  when  he  had  his  bap- 
tism from  on  high  in  the  grove,  where  he 
went  to  be  alone  with  God,  for  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit  from  on  high: — 
"O  Lord,  I  can't  receive  more  now !" 

Then  I  understood  the  great  words  of 
John  Robinson,  the  great  spiritual  forebear 
of  the  folks  of  the  Mayflower:  "There  are 
more  things  to  be  revealed  to  men  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  than  the  greatest  theologians 
and  commentators  have  ever  dreamed  of." 
Every  day  seemed  to  bring  more  beautiful 
revelations  of  the  wonders  and  beauties  of 

217 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

God's  World  and  Word.  It  seemed  that 
the  great  teacher  sent  from  God,  who 
walked  the  earth  and  taught  truth  "beauti- 
ful as  the  light,  sublime  as  heaven  and  true 
as  God,"  was  indeed  by  his  Spirit  dwelling 
in  the  heart,  as  he  had  promised,  teaching 
one  all  things. 

I  saw  then  the  meaning  of  the  wondrous 
words:  "Ye  need  not  that  any  man  shall 
teach  you ;  for  the  anointing  which  ye  shall 
receive  of  the  Father,  who  dwelleth  in  you, 
shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  show  you 
things  to  come."  The  new  experience 
makes  one  feel  he  is  indeed  "born  of  the 
Spirit,"  and  borne  along  by  the  Spirit,  not 
merely  down  the  stream  of  time,  but  along 
the  "river  of  Life."  It  makes  you  know 
that  wherever  this  Spirit  carried  Jesus,  it 
is  bound  to  carry  you ;  for  we  are  truly  one 
with  him  in  the  Spirit.  One  thus  knows 
that  the  end  of  life  can  be  nothing  but  one 
inexpressible,  all-glorious  triumph.  This 
makes  us  joint  heirs  with  the  Lord  of 
Glory,  in  the  love  and  the  life  of  the  Father. 
This  makes  us  children  of  the  day  and 
sons  of  light.  Thus  led  one  no  longer  walks 
in  darkness;  for  he  has  not  only  seen,  but 
there  is  within  him  a  great  light,  which  is 

218 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

the  world's  only  true  lamp  of  life.  The 
world  then  is  one  holy  family  to  him.  It 
is  a  most  holy  brotherhood,  and  a  thrice 
holy  fellowship.  It  makes  one  feel  that 
down  in  the  great  subconscious  self  some- 
where, the  race  is  all  spiritually  one  in  its 
true  life  as  revealed  from  God  through 
Jesus.  It  is  a  "unity  of  the  Spirit"  that 
makes  one  feel  he  is  bound  up  with  all  the 
world  in  the  bonds  of  peace.  It  is  the  spirit 
that  makes  one  know  that  we  are  one  with 
God  and  one  with  one  another,  in  the  way 
that  Jesus  so  wondrously  proclaimed  this 
blessed  unity  and  more  wondrously  and 
fervently  prayed  for  it.  Love  thus  seemed 
indeed  to  be  the  cement  of  heaven  that 
binds  all  people  of  the  earth  as  "living 
stones"  into  the  temple  of  God — a  temple 
not  made  with  hands,  but  as  eternal  as  the 
heavens,  to  be  filled  with  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  which  is  to  be  the  eternal  light  and 
life  of  all. 

Borne  along  from  day  to  day  by  such  a 
Spirit,  there  came  another  moment  of  still 
greater  revelation  to  my  heart.  It  was  a 
glimpse  of  a  glory  that  no  one  had  ever 
told  me,  nor  as  far  as  I  knew  had  been 
found  elsewhere.      It  was   so  great  as   it 

219 


The  Sinless,  SicJcless,  Deathless  Life 

came  that  it  seemed  that  indeed  flesh  and 
blood  did  not  reveal  it  unto  me;  but  it  was 
revealed  by  the  Father  in  heaven.  It  came 
as  a  most  natural  fulfillment  of  all  that  had 
gone  before.  It  was  like  the  flower  follow- 
ing the  opening  of  the  bud;  or  the  coming 
of  the  autumn  fruit,  when  the  summer 
flowers  have  gone.  It  came  about  in  this 
wise: 

I  was  walking  through  the  parlor  of  a 
friend  one  day.  On  the  wall  was  hanging 
a  beautiful  steel  engraving  of  Merson's 
"The  Repose  in  Egypt,"  referred  to  in  the 
chapter  on  the  vision  of  artists  and  seers. 
Instantly  as  I  looked  upon  the  picture  there 
flashed  into  my  heart  the  conviction,  with 
a  joy  more  real  and  more  blessed  than 
came  at  the  moment  of  my  heart-awaken- 
ing by  the  old  Indian,  or  at  the  moment 
when  I  first  saw  and  felt  the  healing  power 
of  God;  or  even  the  glory  glimpse  with 
the  "baptism  of  the  Spirit,"  which  told  of 
the  coming  and  abiding  forever  of  the 
Spirit's  promised  peace  and  joy.  The  great 
revelation  seemed  to  formulate  itself  in 
some  such  words  as  these :  Man  is  not  made 
to  die.  "Ye  shall  not  die."  The  deathless 
life  that  all  Egypt  longed  for  and  could  not 

220 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

find,  is  found  and  fulfilled  forever  in 
Jesus.  He  was  sent  into  Egypt  in  his 
child  moments  to  tell  that  the  riddle  of  the 
Sphinx  and  the  riddle  of  life  as  Egypt 
thereby  embodied  it  is  solved  forever  by  him 
who  brought  the  deathless  life  to  light  for- 
ever, and  for  all  who  are  by  faith  united  to 
his  own  blessed  self.  This  seemed  like  one  of 
the  "many  things"  that  Jesus  said  he  could 
not  reveal  to  us  in  his  earth  years;  but  the 
Comforter  would  come  and  make  clear  to  us. 
It  seemed  a  revelation  direct  from  heaven. 
I  was  sure  it  was  the  everlasting  truth 
of  the  everlasting  life  that  was  to  be  re- 
vealed to  the  world  in  Christ  Jesus;  and 
is  what  the  Spirit  is  to  bear  home  as  the 
great  conviction  to  all  of  us.  No  words 
can  tell  the  joy  of  the  great  revelation.  It 
seemed  at  once  as  though  it  was  the  "lost 
chord"  of  Evolution.  All  creation,  as  we 
have  been  interpreting  it,  seemed  little  more 
than  a  great  torso  without  this.  It  was 
the  one  thing  absolutely  needed  to  bring 
out  the  full  realization  of  the  divine  race 
purpose  God  was  striving  through  his  Spirit 
to  make  clear  to  folks.  All  creation  seemed 
groaning  and  trembling  to  bring  forth  this 
as  the  crown  and  glory  of  creation's  pur- 

221 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

pose.  It  seemed  that  human  life  unfolding 
in  its  perfectly  natural  way,  as  purposed  of 
God,  must  overcome  all  sin  and  sickness  and 
death.  Death  was  but  the  place  where  the 
tragedy,  from  the  wrecking  of  the  divine 
plan,  seemed  so  terrible;  that  the  whole 
rich  meaning  of  life,  as  God  meant  it,  went 
down  in  the  crash.  Christ  came  to  bring 
life  and  immortality  to  light  again.  He 
came  to  restore  the  deathless  life  and  man 
to  his  blissful  seat,  where  he  would  reign 
over  all  triumphant.  And  he  did  it.  Then 
there  flashed  through  my  mind  many  of  the 
wonderful  words  of  Jesus,  that  seemed  to 
point  to  this  as  God's  crowning  purpose. 
There  came  the  rich,  hidden  meaning  of  the 
Passover,  especially  as  it  was  fulfilled  in 
the  drinking  of  the  "Elijah's  Cup,"  when 
the  deathless  life  for  all,  that  was  looked 
forward  to,  would  be  actually  accomplished. 
Then  there  came  crowding  in  the  great 
words  of  the  seers,  both  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  wide  world  outside.  They 
seemed  but  the  foregleams  of  the  coming  of 
this  wondrous  divine  time.  Sages  and  phi- 
losophers also  seemed  to  find  in  this  great 
truth  the  glory-goal  of  all.  All  life  took 
on  a  newer  and  richer  meaning  from  this 

222 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

holy  Light.  One  could  see  the  great 
"Whither,"  everything  was  trending  toward. 
He  could  see  how  Jesus  was  indeed  the  good 
shepherd  leading  the  race  upward  and  on- 
ward along  this  heavenly  way.  Not  by  lip 
only  but  by  life,  did  he  proclaim  and  demon- 
strate this  great  truth,  so  no  one  could  deny 
it.  He  was  the  "perfect  human"  doing 
God's  perfect  work;  so  that  all  could  see  it 
was  heaven's  task  and  purpose  for  every 
one  of  us.  We  could  see  in  him  that  man 
was  not  made  to  die.  These  bodies  of  ours 
were  to  be  so  quickened  by  the  Spirit,  they 
should  enter  glorified  into  the  life  eternal. 
Death,  the  last  enemy  we  have  to  meet,  nnust 
go  down  in  the  great  conflict  which  will 
bring  us  off  triumphant  in  the  glories  of  the 
deathless  life.  Now  one  could  see  the 
heavenly  nexus  between  Jesus  and  the  race. 
He  showed  the  way  of  the  Spirit,  so  that 
we  would  tread  in  his  every  footstep,  as 
we  followed  him  in  being  forever  led  of  the 
Spirit.  We  find  that  the  "decisive  battle 
of  the  world"  was  indeed  at  Calvary.  There 
Jesus  met  by  the  power  of  the  Eternal 
Spirit  the  race  enemy  of  death,  and  came 
off  more  than  conqueror  in  the  resurrection 
and  the   ascension   that  followed   it.      The 

223 


The  Sinless,  SicJcless,  Deathless  Life 

whole  Old  Testament  is  moving  most  ma- 
jestically toward  the  coming  of  this  truth 
of  truths.  But  Jesus,  the  greatest  of  the 
prophets,  whose  life  was  the  unfolding  of 
all  the  world's  prophecy,  pressed  on  in  the 
battle  against  the  demons  of  destruction  to 
the  very  finish.  In  the  battle  against  death, 
he  raised  the  "standard  of  the  cross"  in 
such  a  way  that  we  must  feel  that  it  is  the 
standard  of  everlasting  and  deathless  life. 
The  Spirit  of  the  living  God  was  working 
within  him  to  will  and  to  do  of  the  pleasure 
and  plan  of  all  heaven.  What  he  brought 
forth  as  the  triumph  there  forever,  is  but 
the  first  fruits  of  what  is  for  all  who  will 
but  believe  this  is  most  truly  the  will  of  God 
for  all  of  us.  This  is  the  victory  that  is  to 
be  proclaimed  as  far  as  man  is  found. 

The  full  final  purpose  of  God  for  every 
one  of  us  in  Christ  Jesus  is  the  sinless, 
sickless,  deathless  life,  here,  now  and  for- 
ever. It  is  the  last  article  of  the  creed  of 
Christendom,  that  makes  it  a  joy  to  all 
people,  and  a  perpetual  benediction  to  all 
the  race.  It  girds  up  the  loins  of  men,  as 
they  "press  forward  to  the  mark  of  their 
high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,"  and 
restores  unto  them  their  long-lost  birth- 
right and  heavenly  inheritance. 

224 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

Paul  was  the  great  formulator  of  the 
truth  Jesus  once  for  all  delivered,  as  the  one 
to  bring  into  perfect  unity  the  whole  wide 
race  under  the  complete  guidance  of  the 
Spirit.  To  him,  "the  just  shall  live  by 
faith"  is  the  one  simple  key  that  is  to  unlock 
all  the  mysteries  of  heaven  and  earth  and 
solve  for  all  the  riddles  of  the  universe.  Just 
what  this  faith  would  fully  and  finally  lead 
to  he  did  not  grasp  with  all  its  fullness.  He 
placed  the  emphasis,  under  the  guidance  of 
the  Spirit,  just  where  it  was  most  needed 
for  the  world-moment.  He  caught  only  a 
dim  glimpse  of  the  fuller  faith  that  one  is 
to  take  for  the  final  full  unfolding  of  life  in 
the  complete  richness  of  the  great  heavenly 
purpose.  He  saw  that  we  were  not  all  to 
sleep,  but  sometime  there  was  to  be  a  taking 
up  of  those  who  remain  to  be  forever  with 
the  Lord.  He  longed  for  this,  as  all  in  the 
early  church  longed  for  it  as  nothing  else. 
"Come,  Lord,  come  quickly,"  was  their  daily 
prayer,  as  the  Lord  himself  taught  them  to 
pray  it.  But  just  as  truly  as  the  Jewish 
church  failed  to  realize  the  manner  and  the 
moments  of  the  Messiah's  first  coming,  as 
we  have  seen;  so  doubtless  both  Paul  and 
Christendom  have  failed  to  grasp  the  full 

225 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

truth  of  Christ's  coming  again,  in  the  power 
of  the  Eternal  Spirit.  The  awakening  of 
the  consciousness  and  confidence  of  the 
deathless  life  in  men's  soids  is  yet  to  come. 
But  the  day  is  dawning  fast.  Faith  in  God, 
so  that  we  believe  His  spirit  is  within  us 
to  do  for  us  all  it  did  for  Jesus,  lifts  one 
into  this  faith  and  into  the  very  heaven  of 
heavens,  and  makes  for  one  indeed  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth.  Under  this  vision 
you  cannot  help  but  feel  we  are  living  in 
such  joint  heirship  with  Jesus  that  we 
must  reckon  ourselves  as  dead  to  death  as  to 
sin  and  disease.  This  gives  life  such  a  ring 
of  the  real,  and  religion  such  a  power  within 
us  making  for  righteousness,  that  we  wonder 
why  the  scales  over  the  eyes  of  Christendom 
through  all  the  centuries  have  not  dropped 
long  ago.  This  makes  one  see  Him,  whom 
to  know  thus  aright  is  the  eternal  life  with 
all  its  promised  power  for  all  of  us.  This 
is  faith  which  brings  the  substance  of  all 
things  the  world  has  ever  hoped  for,  and 
also  gives  evidence  of  most  glorious  things 
never  yet  seen.  If  we  have  the  "will  to  be- 
lieve" this,  we  will  soon  behold  a  glory  that 
surpasses  all  things  that  the  sages  or  the 
ages    have    proclaimed    or    prophesied.       It 

226 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

will  bring  us  here  and  now  into  "Immanuel's 
land,"  where  the  glory  of  God  is  forever 
within  and  with  us.  Earth  then  is  indeed 
changed  from  a  desert  drear,  into  an  Eden 
of  bliss  and  a  perpetual  Paradise. 

Everywhere  cries  are  being  heard 
throughout  Christendom  which  are  like 
"voices  in  the  wilderness,"  saying  this  is  the 
day  of  the  Lord  that  is  dawning,  this  is  the 
highway  of  holiness  that  is  thrown  up  in 
life's  desert  for  our  God ;  this  is  the  way  of 
the  life  of  heaven  on  earth ;  walk  ye  all  in  it. 

Here  are  some  such  words  as  they  come 
from  one  who  is  in  the  very  forefront  of 
the  strife.  They  are  from  a  recent  article 
by  Rev.  Edgar  P.  Hill,  D.  D.,  professor  in 
one  of  our  best  Theological  Seminaries,  and 
Superintendent  of  the  Church  Extension 
work  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  the  city 
of  Chicago.  He  feels  keenly  that  the 
Protestant  church,  with  its  present  methods, 
is  fighting  a  losing  battle  in  the  great  down- 
town districts  of  our  large  cities  everywhere. 
He  feels  that  much  that  is  done  in  our 
churches  is  but  a  poor  substitute  for  the 
real  message  of  salvation  that  rang  from 
the  lips  and  life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  till 
it  has  resounded  down  the  twenty  centuries, 

227 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

making  it  of  all  real  things  the  most  real 
to  men  still  today.  Here  are  part  of  his 
wise  words: 

"Some  church  advertising  seems  more 
like  the  frantic  efforts  of  a  discouraged  shop- 
keeper trying  to  dispose  of  shelf-worn  stock 
than  that  of  a  confident  merchant  whose 
superior  goods  are  their  own  commendation. 
It  is  a  question  whether  snappy  newspaper 
articles  and  brilliant  electric  signs  are 
special  evidences  of  religious  vitality  and 
alertness.  The  owners  of  genuine  gold 
mines  do  not  advertise  largely.  The  greater 
the  surgeon  the  less  the  need  of  exploita- 
tion. Long  ago  cities  were  emptied  as 
crowds  hurried  into  the  desert  to  listen  to 
a  man  with  a  real  message.  Jesus  needed 
no  publicity  bureau.  When  at  a  wellside 
a  solitary  woman  had  her  heart  laid  bare  be- 
fore him,  she  hurried  excitedly  back  to  the 
village  and  soon  the  prophet  was  address- 
ing a  crowd.  When  the  Great  Physician 
opened  the  eyes  of  two  blind  men  the  twain 
ran  forth  with  grateful  enthusiasm  to 
spread  abroad  his  fame  in  all  that  country. 
This  was  advertising  worth  while  when  men 
who  owed  to  Jesus  the  priceless  gift  of 
sight  hurried  everywhere  to  share  with 
others  their  glorious  secret.  And  in  our 
great  cities  when  the  men  who  stand  in  the 
pulpits  shall  be  men  of  profound  conviction, 
living  in  intimate  fellowship  with  the  un- 
seen   world,    expert   in    declaring   the   deep 

228 


How  the  Light  Came  and  the  Fire  Fell 

things  of  God,  then  the  churches  shall  be 
real  sanctuaries  where  the  bewildered  mul- 
titudes may  find  genuine  fellowship  and 
peace,  inspiration  and  power." 

In  the  face  of  such  a  great  conviction 
what  better  news  can  be  heralded  as  glad 
tidings  to  all  men  than  that  there  is  a  sal- 
vation full  and  free;  and  that  it  saves  the 
ivhole  man.  It  means  a  salvation  from  sin, 
a  salvation  from  sickness;  a  complete 
triumph  over  death  and  the  grave;  and  a 
filling  the  heart  with  a  joy  like  the  angels 
and  a  peace  like  that  which  filled  the  heart 
of  the  Prince  of  Peace  who  ever  liveth  to 
breathe  out  his  "Pax  Vobiscum"  upon  men 
everywhere.  When  men  hear  the  good  news 
and  glad  tidings  of  such  a  Saviour,  how  can 
they  help  but  burst  out  in  joy  most  raptur- 
ous, "He  is  the  Saviour  for  me!"  All  will 
find  in  such  a  Christ,  the  anointed  of  heaven, 
who  is  to  baptize  all  his  full  followers  with 
his  almighty  and  everlasting  grace  and 
power. 

If  the  church  that  is  cannot  or  will  not 
catch  the  glow  and  glory  of  such  a  Redeemer, 
then  God  will  raise  up  another  church,  made 
up  of  those  who  truly  are  of  "the  church  of 
the   first-born"   who   will   tell   that   this   is 

229 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

indeed  he  who  has  come  to  redeem  all  God's 
spiritual  Israel.  Jew  and  Gentile,  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  saint  and  Socialist,  laborer 
and  capitalist,  rich  and  poor,  unlearned  and 
wise  will  all  find  themselves  flocking  to  hear 
of  him  who  comes  again  through  the  hearts 
of  men  with  a  message  mightier  than  he 
gave  in  the  years  of  his  flesh.  It  is  the 
message  which  he  gives  through  the  fullness 
of  the  Eternal  Spirit  of  his  eternal  and  ever- 
lasting power.  It  is  a  message  the  same 
yesterday,  today  and  forever ;  long  hid  from 
men,  but  now  coming  into  their  lives  for 
their  final  and  full  salvation,  and  the  com- 
plete redemption  of  the  world. 


230 


XV. 

THE  TRIUMPHANT  TRUTH  PRACTI- 
CALLY APPLIED. 

Every  religion  under  the  sun  has  used  as 
the  best  means  of  imparting  its  holy  mes- 
sage, some  kind  of  a  catechism.  The  word 
catechism  means  "an  imparting  of  the  truth 
by  sound."  It  is  an  echoing  into  the  heart 
of  the  inquirer  from  the  heart  of  the  be- 
liever, the  truth  that  heaven  has  revealed  as 
the  great  rock  foundation  of  the  believer's 
own  soul.  A  life  all  on  fire  with  the  vision 
from  on  high  cannot  help  but  want  to  impart 
this  heavenly  knowledge  to  others.  He  feels 
he  is  indeed  for  this  very  purpose  come  into 
the  world  as  a  "teacher  sent  from  God." 

The  great,  all-important  questions  which 
are  called  forth  from  those  who  know  not, 
to  those  who  truly  know  the  way  and  the 
truth  and  the  life  of  God,  are  surprisingly 
similar  the  world  over.  The  answers  of  the 
truly  baptized  of  God,  to  the  ones  in  quest 
of  the  Pentecostal  fire,  make  up  the  great 
world  catechism,  which  by  questions  and 
answers  strive  to  make  clear  what  one  should 
know  and  do  that  they  may  be  fullly  and 

231 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

forever  saved.  They  aim  to  give  clearly 
the  essence  of  religion  "pure  and  undefiled" 
and  tell  one  what  they  must  do  that  they 
may  know  the  living  and  true  God  aright, 
and  thus  knowing  have  revealed  in  their 
hearts  by  blessed  experience  the  glow  and 
glories  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Herewith  are  given  some  such  series  of 
questions  and  answers,  which  aim  to  reveal 
for  most  practical  use  the  power  of  God  for 
the  full  and  free  salvation,  given  by  Jesus, 
for  the  sole  redemption  of  the  entire  man. 

It  brings  down  from  the  clouds  the  power 
from  on  high  with  which,  if  a  man  be  bap- 
tized, he  will  find  the  liberty  that  all  the 
world  is  longing  for,  and  the  love  that  over- 
flows in  his  heart  like  a  well  of  life,  and 
which  makes  the  desert  about  bud  and  bloom 
like  the  rose. 

It  shows  how  one  may  test  and  see  that 
all  that  has  been  said  in  these  pages  can  be 
most  practically  demonstrated  and  men  will 
know  whether  it  is  a  message  sent  of  heaven 
or  is  merely  man's  message  that  fails  to 
fulfill  the  longings  of  the  heart  that  God  has 
implanted,  and  which  he  is  bound  to  gratify 
and  satisfy. 

The  little  catechetical  putting  of  the  glad, 

232 


The  Triumphant  Truth  Practically  Applied 

good  news  does  not  by  any  means  ask  or 
answer  all  the  questions  that  any  hungry 
heart  will  ask  of  one  whom  it  knows  has  the 
bread  of  life.  But  the  fundamental  and  all- 
important  ones  are  asked  and  answered ;  and 
it  is  hoped  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  any 
one  that  reads  ask  a  thousand  more.  He 
will  find  that  with  every  sincere  inquiry 
there  will  be  found  somewhere  and  from 
someone  an  answer,  that  will  ravish  the 
soul  with  a  new-found  revelation  and  a  new- 
found joy. 

Soon  one  will  find  that  whenever  a  ques- 
tion comes  into  the  heart  he  can  ask  of  God 
the  giver  thereof,  and  he  by  his  Spirit  will 
as  surely  furnish  the  answer,  either  direct 
or  through  the  lips  and  life  of  another,  as 
he  supplies  the  food  for  the  new-born  babe 
with  a  mother's  life  and  a  mother's  love. 

Oh,  what  a  catechism  God  is  writing  in 
the  heart  of  hungering,  thirsting  humanity! 
Oh,  what  answers  he  has  ready  from  the  lips 
and  lives  of  those  who  are  born  of  the 
Spirit  into  the  eternal  life,  the  free  gift  of 
God  for  all. 

The  following  questions  are  such  as  come 
alike  from  all  the  race,  and  are  the  ones 
that  are  attempted  to  be  answered  by  every 

233 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

creed.  It  is  Christendom's  Catechism,  for 
it  is  the  answer  that  Christ  gave  to  the  uni- 
versal questions,  which  are  the  pivotal  ones 
of  all  people  forever  and  everywhere.  No 
man  can  pick  up  the  Book  that  has  trans- 
formed the  world  and  read  it,  without  asking 
these  questions.  No  one  will  be  satisfied 
in  his  heart  and  life  till  he  can  practically 
answer  them  as  Jesus  said  they  should  be 
answered  by  every  follower  of  the  Light 
of  all  heaven  for  all. 

Question  1 — What  is  God's  full  purpose 
for  me? 

Answer — God's  full  purpose  for  me  is  to 
free  me  forever  from  all  sin,  sickness  and 
death,  that  I  may  become  "holy  as  God  is 
holy"  and  "perfect  as  the  Father  in  heaven 
is  perfect." 

Q.  2 — What  must  I  do  that  I  may  realize 
this  glorious  purpose? 

A. — That  I  may  realize  this  glorious  pur- 
pose, I  must  simply  believe  that  God  is  in 
me  by  the  spirit  of  his  own  life  to  bring 
forth  this  glorious  result.  If  I  only  believe 
this  is  God's  good  pleasure  for  me,  and 
that  he  is  willing  and  able  to  accomplish 
what  he  has  planned  for  me  in  my  very  ex- 

234 


The  Ti'iiimphayit  Truth  Practically  Applied 

istence,  I  will  see  the  glory  of  it.  For  we 
are  saved  by  faith  that  God  will  accomplish 
within  us  that  whereunto  we  are  sent.  We 
will  thus  "apprehend  that  for  which  we  are 
apprehended  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Q.  3 — What  ground  have  I  for  believing 
such  a  stupendous  and  all-glorious  purpose 
for  my  life? 

A. — The  ground  I  have  for  such  a  blessed 
belief  is  that  Jesus  is  the  Word  of  God  tell- 
ing of  his  purposed  work  for  us.  He  is  the 
express  image  of  the  Father's  glorious  pur- 
pose for  all  of  the  race.  What  the  Spirit 
of  the  life  of  God  in  humanity  expressed  in 
Jesus,  God  wills  to  express  in  all  of  us.  He 
was  but  the  "sample  sheaf,"  "the  first  fruits" 
of  the  harvest  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
that  all  humanity  is  made  to  exhibit. 

Q.  4 — What  evidence  will  I  have  that  this 
is  the  truth? 

A. — The  evidence  that  I  will  have  that 
this  is  the  truth  is  that  I  will  want  to  be 
about  the  Father's  business  as  Jesus,  our 
elder  brother,  was  in  his  earth-work.  Like 
him  I  will  ever  look  upon  others  as  I  believe 
God  looks  upon  me  in  His  redemptive 
purpose. 

Q.  5 — What  are  the  three  cardinal  things 

235 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

that  thou  wilt  ever  he  doing  as  a  full  fol- 
lower of  Jesus? 

A. — The  three  cardinal  things  I  will  be 
doing  as  a  full  follower  of  Jesus  will  be  to 
forgive  sins,  heal  all  manner  of  diseases  and 
bestow  upon  others,  through  God's  grace, 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Q.  6 — Why  ivilt  thou  make  forgiving  all 
manner  of  sins  thy  first  work? 

A. — I  will  make  the  forgiving  of  sins  my 
first  and  foremost  work,  because  to  forgive 
sins  was  the  first  and  foremost  work  of 
Jesus.  His  name  tells  this  as  the  great  and 
gracious  nature  of  his  work:  "They  shall 
call  his  name  Jesus,  for  he  shall  save  his 
people  from  their  sins."  Our  high-priestly 
work,  like  Jesus',  must  ever  be  our  first  and 
foremost  work.  To  the  taunts  of  the  world, 
"Who  can  forgive  sins  but  God  only,"  we 
must  answer  by  a  life  of  demonstration  that 
we  have  received  from  God,  through  the 
grace  of  the  Spirit,  the  power  of  absolution 
in  joint  possession  with  Jesus.  To  a  sinner 
in  penitence  seeking  fogiveness,  we  are  to 
say  in  faith,  "Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee." 
Thus  believing  we  will  see  before  our 
very  eyes,  the  sins  vanishing  like  the  dark- 
ness before  the  light.     "Whosoever  sins  ye 

236 


The  Triumphant  Truth  Practically  Applied 

forgive  they  shall  be  forgiven  them."  For- 
giveness of  sins  is  our  heaven-given  perog- 
ative.  As  we  test,  we  will  see  this  is  the 
glorious  purpose  of  God  in  making  us  High 
Priests  unto  himself,  with  Jesus,  in  the  re- 
demptive work  of  the  world. 

Q.  7 — What  is  the  second  work  I  am  to  do  ? 

A. — The  second  work  I  am  to  do  is  to  heal 
all  manner  of  diseases.  As  truly  as  Jesus 
made  it  the  mission  of  his  life  to  go  about 
healing  all  manner  of  diseases,  I  am  to  make 
this  my  mission  also.  "These  signs  shall 
follow  those  who  believe.  In  my  name 
they  shall  cast  out  devils  and  heal  all  manner 
of  diseases."  It  is  even  said  "If  ye  eat 
any  deadly  thing  it  shall  not  harm  you." 

Q.  8 — Why  has  this  not  been  done  in  the 
past  by  the  folloiuers  of  Jesus? 

A. — This  has  not  been  done  simply  be- 
cause we  have  lost  faith  in  the  fact  that  we 
could;  and  no  one  has  come  to  make  men 
realize  this  was  the  priceless  possession  for 
all  who  were  followers  of  Jesus  as  Saviour 
and  Lord. 

Q.  9 — Hoiv  can  I  do  this? 

A. — I  can  do  this  by  sitting  beside  one 
who  is  sick,  and  in  my  heart  believe  that  the 
power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  present  to  do 

237 


The  Sinless,  SicJdess,  Deathless  Life 

unto  the  sick  one  what  he  is  doing  in  my 
own  life — to  make  one  perfect  as  the  Father 
in  heaven  is  perfect.  By  thus  believing  we 
shall  see  the  glory  of  God,  in  the  restora- 
tion to  health  of  the  one  that  is  sick  through 
lack  of  faith  in  the  fullness  of  the  divine 
purpose  for  us,  to  be  both  healthy  and  holy 
in  God. 

Q.  10 — Why  do  we  sometimes  fail  to  bring 
about  the  healing  help? 

A. — We  sometimes  fail  in  our  healing  help 
because  of  our  unbelief  in  the  fact  that  God 
is  willing  and  ready  as  he  is  able  to  do  this. 
"Oh,  ye  of  little  faith"  is  the  rebuke  that 
heaven  gives  yesterday,  today  and  forever 
to  every  failure  that  we  face. 

Q.  11 — Can  others'  unbelief  hinder  the 
healing  help? 

A. — Yes,  others'  unbelief  can  hinder  the 
healing  help,  for  Jesus  said  he  could  do  no 
mighty  works  at  places,  on  account  of  their 
unbelief.  The  unbelief  of  the  patient  is 
often  as  great  a  barrier,  that  needs  to  be 
burned  away,  as  the  unbelief  of  the  practi- 
tioner, for  the  restoration  of  the  sick  ones  to 
health. 

Q.  12 — What  should  one  do  under  such 
circumstances  ? 

288 


The  Triumphant  Truth  Practically  Applied 

A. — Under  such  circumstances  one  should 
sit  in  quiet  confidence  that  God  is  able  and 
willing  to  remove  the  sin  of  unbelief  from 
patient  as  well  as  practitioner,  and  in  that 
faith  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  manifest 
in  the  bringing  of  the  sick  ones  back  to  per- 
fect life. 

Q.  13. — What  is  the  third  and  last  of  the 
cardinal  functions  of  the  true  child  of  the 
highest  ? 

A. — The  third  and  last  of  the  cardinal 
functions  of  the  Christian  life  is  to  give  to 
others  the  "gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  "Have 
ye  received  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost?" 
was  the  pass-word  into  the  privilege  of  dis- 
cipleship  into  the  early  church.  It  must  be 
the  pass-word  into  the  place  of  power  to 
every  true  follower  of  Jesus.  Jesus  made 
this  the  last  and  greatest  of  his  gifts  to 
men.  He  breathed  upon  them  and  said 
"Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost."  Pentecost 
was  the  place  where  the  possession  of  this 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  was  manifested 
as  the  world's  mighty  spiritual  dynamic. 

Q.  14 — Can  this  baptism  of  the  Spirit  fall 
upon  people  today? 

A. — This  baptism  of  the  Spirit  can  fall 
upon  people  today,  just  as  surely  as  in  the 

239 


The  Siriless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

days  of  the  first  apostles  and  in  the  earth- 
days  of  Jesus. 

Q.  15 — How  can  it  be  received? 

A. — It  can  be  received  by  faith  alone.  We 
may  lay  our  hands  upon  the  heads  of  those 
who  hunger  for  the  "outpouring  of  the 
Spirit"  upon  their  lives,  and  we  may  say 
"In  the  name  of  Jesus  receive  ye  the  Holy 
Ghost."  Faith  that  this  will  be  granted 
us  will  bring  the  marvelous  manifestation 
about,  and  we  will  see  changes  wrought  be- 
fore our  very  eyes  as  wonderful  as  on  the 
"Day  of  Pentecost."  As  our  faith  is  so  it 
shall  be  unto  us. 

Q.  16 — What  is  needed  to  keep  the  witness 
of  the  Spirit? 

A. — The  thing  needed  to  keep  the  abiding 
of  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  is  that  the  re- 
generated believe  that  he  is  "born  again" 
for  no  other  purpose  than  to  become  a  re- 
generator. As  generation  is  the  highest 
and  final  function  in  the  unfolding  of  the 
natural  life,  so  regeneration  is  the  highest 
and  final  gift  of  the  regenerated  life — one 
born  again  of  the  Spirit.  We  are  begotten 
of  God  to  beget  for  God.  We  are  forgiven 
to  forgive,  healed  to  heal,  and  baptized  of 
the  Spirit  to  breathe  upon  others  by  faith 

240 


The  T7'iumphant  Truth  Practically  Applied 

the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  cardi- 
nal life  purposes  of  Jesus  must  ever  be  the 
cardinal  life  purposes  of  every  one  of  us. 

Q.  17 — How  can  I  be  prepared  for  this 
glorious  world-redeeming  ivork? 

A. — I  can  be  prepared  for  this  world-re- 
deeming work  by  believing  that  the  life  of 
God  that  was  in  Jesus  is  the  life  of  God 
ever  in  us  to  accomplish  these  very  things 
for  which  it  is  given.  We  are  sent  into  the 
world  to  glorify  God  in  the  saving  from 
sin  and  sickness  and  death,  all  who  will 
come  believing  that  this  is  the  will  of  God 
revealed  in  Christ  Jesus  for  every  one  of  us. 

Q.  18 — What  is  life's  mission  and  com- 
mission as  heaven  reveals  it? 

A. — Life's  mission  and  commission  as  re- 
vealed of  heaven  is  to  go  into  all  the  world 
and  proclaim  this  as  the  good  news  of 
heaven  and  demonstrate  this  by  our  daily 
life  among  those  with  whom  God  throws  us 
in  living  contact.  This  service  is  our  only 
salvation.  We  are  to  work  it  out  with  fear 
and  trembling,  for  God  is  within  us,  work- 
ing to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure 
in  day  by  day  making  our  message  and 
mission  "by  signs  following"  more  clearly 
manifest.      By  such  fruits  men  will  know 

241 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

we  are  children  of  God,  joint  heirs  with  our 
elder  brother,  and  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father,  to  reveal  to  us  what  we  are  begotten 
unto  by  the  gift  of  the  Spirit. 

Q.  19 — What  does  such  a  life-work  mean 
to  one? 

A. — Such  a  life-work  means  to  one  that 
all  life's  ways  are  easy  and  all  life's  burdens 
become  light.  It  is  a  joy  that  only  angels 
can  tell,  to  be  thus  joined  with  Jesus  in  God's 
world-work.  It  is  a  peace  that  passeth  all 
understanding  to  be  such  a  messenger  of 
peace.  We  are  at  peace  with  all  heaven 
and  earth  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of  the 
"Prince  of  Peace."  We  are  saved  and  be- 
come saviours  so  that  all  the  world  may 
know  that  the  chief  end  of  man  is  indeed  to 
glorify  God  and  enjoy  him  forever,  as  we 
are  thus  ever  saved  to  the  utmost  to  serve 
and  save  to  the  uttermost. 

Q.  20 — What  place  should  this  great  mes- 
sage have  in  all  organized  Christendom? 

A. — It  should  be  the  very  spirit  of  it. 
Without  this,  we  have  only  the  letter  which 
killeth  and  have  lost  the  spirit  which  giveth 
the  fullness  of  Christ's  heavenly  life. 


242 


XVI. 

THE   SIMPLE   SUMMARY   OF  "GOD'S 
PERFECT  WHOLE." 

Hear  then  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter,  of  how  one  may  know  and  keep  "the 
whole  duty  of  man" — how  we  may  truly  and 
fully  "love  God  and  keep  his  command- 
ments." It  is  to  believe  that  God  is  within 
us,  working  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good 
pleasure,  which  is  nought  less  than  the 
bringing  forth  of  the  perfect  expression  of 
his  power  and  glory  as  manifested  in  Jesus 
Christ.  God  is  willing  and  able  and  ready 
to  do  this.  When  we  are  willing  and  ready 
to  believe  his  ability  to  do  this  crowning 
work  of  grace  in  us,  in  the  sinless,  sickless 
and  deathless  life  as  revealed  in  Jesus,  we 
shall  be  satisfied  as  we  waken  into  the  glor- 
ious realization  of  this,  our  long  longed  for 
likeness.  We  shall  be  glorified  as  God  is 
glowing  within  us  while  he  is  glorifying 
himself  in  the  bringing  forth  this  priceless 
product  of  creation's  purpose. 

Materlink  says  "A  hidden  truth  is  what 
makes  us  live.  We  are  its  unconscious 
slaves  as  long  as  it  has  not  appeared."     The 

243 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

hidden  truth  hid  from  the  ages,  fully  re- 
vealed in  Christ  and  to  be  just  as  fully  re- 
vealed in  us,  is  most  that  the  sinless,  sickless, 
deathless  life  is  the  glory-goal  of  God, 
designed  for  all.  It  is  the  truth  hidden  in 
the  very  heart  of  humanity,  struggling  to 
be  perfect  as  the  Father  in  heaven  is  per- 
fect. It  is  the  truth  which  burned  like  a 
holy  fire  in  the  heart  of  Novalis  and  Emer- 
son, which  they  called  the  "Transcendental 
Soul."  It  is  the  same  truth  which  Paul 
called  "Christ  within  us,  the  hope  of  Glory." 
It  is  the  truth  which  Swedenborg  loved  to 
call  the  "Perfect  Human,"  which  made  him 
the  seer  of  his  century  as  he  tried  to  make 
it  more  clear  unto  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
folks. 

Living  under  the  spell  of  this  "open 
vision"  of  heaven  for  all  men,  one  is  led  like 
Joan  of  Arc  by  her  "Voices."  It  is  the 
voice  of  God,  clear  as  the  bells  of  heaven, 
sweet  as  the  love  of  Christ  to  us.  As 
we  listen  to  its  wooing,  winning  message, 
we  will  lead  the  hosts  of  the  unredeemed  to 
their  full  and  most  blessed  redemption.  We 
will  be  able  to  storm  the  very  Gates  of  Hell 
and  Hades,  and  bring  into  their  liberty  the 
captives  of  the  ages  under  the  bondage  of 

244 


The  Summary  of  "God's  Perfect  Whole** 

sin,  disease  and  death.  We  will  be  clothed 
with  white  raiment  indeed,  and  ride  with 
the  victorious  army  of  the  Redeemer  upon 
"white  horses,"  having  upon  our  foreheads 
the  name  that  only  the  Spirit  will  make 
known.  This  we  will  do,  with  a  vision  that 
will  ever  ravish  the  soul,  and  make  us  feel 
that  upon  our  girdles  of  righteousness  are 
written  indeed  the  words  upon  Christ's, 
"King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords." 

This  was  the  vision  of  the  Christ  that  is 
to  light  up  all  the  world.  It  filled  the  holy 
temple  of  his  being  with  a  glory  that  cometh 
down  from  on  high.  It  lifted  him  heaven- 
ward as  he  was  borne  from  the  grave  by 
the  Eternal  Spirit.  His  words  of  promise 
and  purpose  for  men  cannot  then  help  but 
make  us  say  with  Ruysbrock,  the  greatest 
Mystic  of  the  Middle  Ages,  "There  is  but 
one  temple  in  the  world,  and  that  is  the  body 
of  man.  Nothing  is  holier  than  this  on 
this  side  of  the  gates  of  God."  We  know 
that  we  are  the  living  temples  of  the  Most 
Holy  and  Most  High  as  surely  as  was  Jesus 
the  Christ.  If  we  will  only  believe  that 
God  is  within  us  to  do  for  us  what  he  did 
for  ^he  great  world  Messenger  and  the 
Messiah,  we  too  shall  enter  into  the  full  glory 

245 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

of  our  purposed  inheritance,  as  sons  of  his 
love  and  sons  of  his  everlasting  light. 

Truly  it  is  the  dream  of  the  ages  that  has 
filled  the  minds  of  artists  and  seers  with  a 
message  that  carried  them  to  the  very 
presence  of  God.  The  veil  over  their  eyes 
has  often  been  so  thin  that  the  very  linea- 
ments of  the  divine  in  man  has  shown 
through  as  revealed  in  the  divine  man.  It 
revealed  him  as  God's  pattern  for  every 
temple  he  is  trying  to  build  in  the  heart  of 
his  children  that  he  has  brought  forth  from 
the  womb  of  time,  for  the  glory  of  eternity, 
to  show  forth  the  wonders  of  his  grace  and 
love. 

Philosophers  and  scientists  have  felt  that 
there  is  within  all  men  a  power  not  them- 
selves making  for  matchless  righteousness. 
A  new  day  is  upon  the  world  in  these  great 
realms  of  profoundest  thinking.  The  wisest 
feel  that  they  are  beginning  for  the  first 
time  to  really  see  "what  God  is  up  to"  as  in 
"the  roaring  loom  of  time,  the  endless  web 
of  events  is  woven."  We  are  seeing  that 
he  is  weaving  the  garments  of  the  perfect 
salvation  for  humanity.  We  are  seeing 
that  the  whole  man  is  to  be  saved  by  grace. 
God  is  demonstrating  before  our  very  eyes, 

246 


The  Summary  of  ''God's  Perfect  Whole'* 

as  never  before,  that  he  is  actually  within 
us  to  forgive  all  our  sins,  heal  all  our  dis- 
eases, and  put  death  and  hell  as  fully  and 
forever  beneath  our  feet,  as  he  did  in  the 
triumphs  of  his  revelation  in  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Son  of  Man  and  Son  of  God — God's 
rare  pattern  drawn  out  in  living  character 
for  us. 

This  is  the  high  water  mark  of  religion 
indeed.  Victor  Hngo,  when  in  his  dungeon 
cell,  found  himself  musing  on  the  wonders 
of  the  cathedral  at  Seville.  He  saw  it  all 
in  its  matchless  beauty  and  almost  perfect 
design.  Then  suddenly  it  seemed  to  him 
that  every  stone  from  the  foundation  up, 
past  pillars  and  all  to  the  very  dome,  even 
to  the  last  last  stone  laid  upon  its  summit, 
was  for  nought  else  than  to  bring  out  the 
glory  of  the  angel  crowning  all  with  its  out- 
stretched wings,  looking  upward  as  though 
it  were  to  instantly  take  its  heavenly  flight. 
So  religion,  "which  is  the  greatest  thing  in 
the  world,"  "to  bear  our  spirits  up,"  is  the 
crowning  truth  of  the  very  temple  of  our 
beings.  These  bodies  of  ours,  temples  made 
without  hands,  made  to  be  as  eternal  as  the 
heavens,  find  their  high  water  mark  of  pur- 
pose,  and   their   crowning   message   in   the 

247 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

great  transfiguration  moments,  like  that 
which  came  to  Jesus.  It  is  the  thought  of 
thoughts  that  our  bodies  as  well  as  our 
spirits  are  to  be  glorified.  With  these  eyes 
we  are  to  see  God.  We  are  to  realize  that 
the  sinless,  sickless,  deathless  life  is  our 
divine  inheritance,  our  long-lost  birthright, 
which  God  came  in  his  Only  Begotten,  to 
again  restore  to  us.  It  is  ours  now  and  for- 
ever if  we  will  only  believe  it. 

One  never  sees  the  beauties  of  the  cathed- 
ral windows  till  he  is  within  the  holy  shrine 
and  looks  through  the  master  work  of  art 
in  colors,  to  the  light  outside.  So  one  must 
enter  the  temple  of  his  own  being,  by  faith 
alone,  and  believe  that  the  deathless  life  is 
the  will  of  God  for  us  in  Christ  Jesus.  Then 
every  opening  window  heavenward  will 
have  told  in  its  cathedral  glass  painted  by 
God's  Spirit  some  phase  of  this  matchless 
truth  which  is  to  grip  and  grapple  with 
fallen  humanity  till  it  will  restore  it  to  its 
blissful  seat.  It  is  the  story  sung  by  the 
Spirit  of  the  Almighty  God's  most  holy  and 
heavenly  Muse  that  alone  brings  forth  the 
holiest  music.  Here,  as  nowhere  else,  is 
seen  the  great  cardinal  truth  about  religion 
that  Anslem   formulated,   and  which   is  as 

248 


The  Summary  of  "God's  Perfect  Whole" 

universal  in  its  heart  sweep  as  the  law  of 
gravity  is  in  the  sweep  of  spheres.  "Credo 
ut  intellegam  no7i  intellego  ut  credem." — 
"I  must  believe  that  I  may  know,  not  know 
that  I  may  believe." 

This  holy  vision  makes  the  Holy  Supper 
the  most  hallowed  feast  in  all  the  world. 
We  are  to  be  made  partakers  of  the  life  of 
the  one  deathless  and  immortal  of  all  the 
ages  till  we  shall  be  full  partakers  of  all 
his  benefits  and  all  his  experiences.  We 
may  bless  the  whole  wide  world  by  drinking 
this  "Elijah's  Cup"  of  blessing  with  others, 
and  taking  them  into  the  full  blood  covenant 
of  heaven  in  the  perfect  and  complete  sal- 
vation of  God  for  all. 

This  makes  us  meet  death,  the  last  great 
enemy,  in  open  combat,  and  as  confident 
that  we  will  win  in  the  encounter  as  David, 
the  shepherd  lad,  met  Goliath  that  had 
taunted  the  armies  of  Israel.  Already  if 
we  only  believe  we  have  met  this  enemy  of 
enemies,  and  it  is  ours.  We  are  but  to 
show  to  the  world  that  this  faith  is  not  to 
put  us  to  shame  when  the  great  time  comes 
for  the  demonstration  that  will  glorify  God. 
This  faith  which  is  scarcely  to  be  found  in 
all  God's  spiritual  Israel  is  to  be  ours.     This 

249 


The  Sinless,  SicJcless,  Deathless  Life 

is  the  conquest  for  which  the  army  of 
heaven  is  being  led  on  by  the  great  captain 
of  the  world's  complete  salvation.  No 
soldier  of  the  cross  need  fear  that  He  will 
lead  us  to  defeat,  who  has  all  power  in 
heaven  and  earth  and  asks  us  to  line  up  by 
faith  with  his  promises  of  a  complete  salva- 
tion from  everthing  that  he  met  and  over- 
came in  perfect  triumph. 

This  leads  also  into  a  Paradise  Regained. 
What  all  the  ages  lost  in  its  soul  power 
somehow  it  has  found  again.  We  know 
that  it  is  nought  but  doubt  of  this  great 
truth  that  dooms  and  damns  a  man,  and 
keeps  him  from  the  glory  that  is  heaven's, 
and  the  triumphs  which  are  ours.  This 
sets  one  free  in  the  liberty  that  has  broken 
the  last  shackel  of  the  enslaved  soul  and 
body.  It  is  the  liberty  that  was  shown  in 
the  risen  Lord.  It  is  the  liberty  that  God 
desires  to  give  to  lighten  the  burdens  and 
enlighten  the  mind  and  heart  of  all  the 
world. 

Such  a  vision  of  life's  glory-goal  is  what 
gives  "the  preaching  of  the  cross"  clearness 
and  glory  and  power.  It  is  preaching  it 
with  understanding,  which  is  the  thing  that 
Paul   felt  must  ever  be  the   secret  of  the 

250 


The  Summary  of  "GocVs  Perfect  Whole" 

power  of  the  cross  to  transform  the  world. 
An  old  legend  of  the  cross  is  expressed  in 
the  words,  "Tenio,  tenior,"  "I  hold,  and  I  am 
held  by."  Such  a  vision  of  what  the  cross 
does  through  Christ  for  men,  is  the  mightiest 
power  that  ever  entered  into  the  heart 
and  mind  of  men.  It  has  come  to  us  only 
from  above.  I  am  to  hold  to  the  simple 
truth  that  the  supreme  purpose  of  God  for 
me  is  the  sinless,  sickless  and  deathless  life. 
Nothing  in  all  the  world  is  to  separate  me 
from  this  faith  in  Christ  Jesus  as  God's 
gracious  plan.  I  am  held  by  this.  It  up- 
holds one  under  the  most  trying  circum- 
stances. Nothing  can  darken  the  soul  that 
has  seen  this  great  light,  that  is  to  light 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  earth.  In 
the  times  when  the  battle  is  the  fiercest, 
one  can  stand  still  in  holy  confidence  and 
say  "The  Lord  rebuke  thee."  The  very 
sun  and  moon  stand  still  for  such  a  Joshua. 
He  will  find  that  every  conflict  must  end  in 
the  same  great  victory.  He  who  upholds 
the  world  upholds  souls  by  this  faith,  and 
daily  makes  more  clear  and  more  wonderful 
the  holding  and  upholding  power  of  the 
cross.  One  finds  every  burden  roll  away 
and  every  battle  end  in  victory.      It  brings 

251 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

the  shout  of  triumph  that  rings  throughout 
all  heaven  and  earth,  so  as  to  make  all  men 
want  to  line  up  forever  on  the  side  of  the 
Lord  of  Hosts. 

How  holy  and  hallowed  is  the  Triune  and 
most  holy  God  viewed  thus.  God !  That  is 
the  beginning  and  end  of  all  things.  "God 
in  Christ,"  that  is  the  way  He  desired  to  be 
fully  and  forever  revealed  to  us.  God  is 
in  us,  by  his  blessed  Spirit  desiring  to  ever 
be  what  he  was  and  is  in  Jesus.  This  is  the 
truth  that  settles  the  end  and  aim  of  life 
forever.  This  is  the  truth  that  makes  one 
apprehend  that  for  which  he  was  appre- 
hended of  God.  We  are  made  to  be  brought 
forth  into  the  image  of  his  Son.  That  pur- 
pose will  not  miscarry,  if  we  only  give  God 
the  full  right  of  way,  and  will  not  grieve  or 
resist  or  quench  the  Spirit  of  his  power  as 
he  is  maturing  us  into  the  perfect  manhood 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 

This  sends  one  about  life  with  a  message 
and  a  mission  that  is  as  clear  as  the  sun- 
light, and  as  world  blessed  as  this  light  of 
heaven  is  to  all  folks.  We  will  want  to  be 
high  priests  with  the  Great  High  Priest,  in 
the  great  absolution  of  the  world  which  will 
be  everywhere  our  blessed  privilege  to  re- 

252 


The  Summary  of  "God's  Perfect  Whole" 

veal  as  we  are  led  by  his  Spirit.  We  will 
want  to  go  about  "healing  all  manner  of 
diseases,"  "in  his  name,"  and  tell  to  men 
that  there  is  no  more  reason  for  a  man 
being  sick  than  a  sinner.  We  will  burst 
forth  often  in  ecstacy  at  such  a  vision,  and 
can  even  say,  in  the  words  of  President 
Finney  of  Oberlin — "The  only  reason  that 
Paul  did  not  get  rid  of  his  'thorn  in  the 
flesh'  was  that  he  did  not  have  faith  enough 
to  believe  that  God  wanted  him  to  be  wholly 
whole  and  be  rid  of  it."  We  will  feel  that 
the  Spirit  of  life,  and  the  vision  of  life  that 
we  will  want  men  to  have  is  this  one  that  is 
the  only  one  that  will  satisfy  a  world  grop- 
ing after  the  full  light  and  life  of  God. 
We  will  want  all  men  to  be  one  with  God 
and  with  one  another  as  Jesus  was,  and 
prayed  this  for  us  in  his  last  great  inter- 
cessory prayer.  Old  creeds  that  bind  one 
to  any  lesser  vision  than  this  must  go. 
We  will  cry  out  in  the  words  which  were 
emblazoned  on  the  banners  of  one  of  the 
bands  of  strikers  at  the  recent  Lawrence 
labor  troubles :  "We  strike  for  a  better  life !" 
One  strikes  out  every  article  in  his  past 
creed  of  life  that  will  not  allow  him  to  live 
in  the  full  liberty  of  belief  that  the  sinless, 

253 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

sickless  and  deathless  life  is  the  design  of 
God  for  all.  This  alone  will  bring  a  broader 
and  better  life,  and  give  one  his  native 
freedom  of  body,  mind  and  heart. 

You  cannot  help  but  attempt  great  things 
for  God  and  experience  great  things  in 
this  belief.  You  will  be  compelled  to  wit- 
ness to  wondrous  things  that  the  Lord  hath 
done  for  you,  and  you  will  want  to  do  for 
others.  It  will  make  you  a  living  witness 
of  the  power  of  God  unto  the  great  salva- 
tion. Both  by  precept  and  by  practice  you 
will  have  a  message  with  the  ring  of  the 
real  and  the  ring  of  heaven  in  it.  It  will 
draw  men  to  the  mighty  Truth  as  the  bees 
are  drawn  to  the  flowers;  for  there  is 
something  "sweeter  than  honey  and  the 
honeycomb"  within  and  with  it. 

You  will  find  that  you  will  love  to  sum 
up  in  a  word  what  you  thus  truly  believe. 
You  will  find  that  the  great  questions  of  the 
age  and  the  ages  are  all  answered  in  the 
light  of  such  a  vision  of  God's  purpose  for 
the  world  of  sinners  lost,  as  they  can  be 
answered  in  no  other  way.  You  will  find 
that  the  simplest  and  the  sublimest  creed  of 
Christendom  will  be  made  by  the  questions 
and  answers  the  soul  asks,  and  heaven  ans- 

254 


The  Summary  of  "God's  Perfect  Whole" 

wers.  You  will  say  when  all  these  lessons 
of  life  have  been  learned,  that  now  you  see 
clearly  what  was  so  long  "seen  only  through 
a  glass  darkly."  Now  you  see  that  the  chief 
end  of  man  is  the  sinless,  sickless  and  the 
deathless  life.  In  answer  to  the  first  ques- 
tion of  the  Heidleburg  catcheism,  "What  is 
thy  only  comfort  in  life  and  death,"  you  will 
ring  out  the  answer;  "That  I  am  not  my 
own  but  am  bought  with  a  price,  and  that 
I  believe  that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  within  me, 
as  in  Jesus,  so  I  shall  inherit  with  him  his 
sinless,  sickless  and  deathless  life."  This 
I  will  clearly  see  is  the  crowning  purpose  of 
creation,  the  crown  of  life  that  is  reserved 
for  all  who  will  by  faith  take  it  from  the 
great  angel  of  the  New  Covenant.  This 
he  is  holding  out  for  each  of  us  to  take  and 
wear,  making  us  kings  and  priests  with  him 
unto  our  God  forever  and  ever. 

The  alchemists,  through  the  ages,  have 
tried  to  find  the  way  by  which  lead  could  be 
transformed  into  pure  gold.  This  faith 
finds  for  us  far  more.  It  shows  how  there 
can  be  a  great  transmutation  of  the  most 
sordid  and  most  leaden,  sin-laden,  sick- 
ridden  and  hope-lost  life.  It  can  be  changed 
into  the  perfect  life  of  the  perfect  man,  in 

256 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

Christ  Jesus.  Faith  alone  is  the  means  by 
which  we  can  be  thus  changed  into  the 
"Second  Adam,"  this  "New  Man  in  Christ 
Jesus."  It  shows  how  the  old  man  of  the 
flesh  can  be  forever  put  off,  and  the  new 
man  of  the  spirit  renewed  day  by  day  in 
holiness  till  we  find  that  all  old  things  have 
actually  passed  away  forever  and  all  things 
have  become  new  in  the  vision  of  the  life 
complete  and  eternally  triumphant  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

This  is  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of 
God,  that  is  to  enlighten  the  world.  It  is 
said  that  when  Bertholdi,  the  giver  of  the 
statue  of  liberty  to  our  nation,  was  dying 
he  rose  in  his  very  last  moments  and  said 
in  half  bewilderment: — "Listen!  listen! 
Tell  them  that  it  is  not  in  the  letter  but  the 
spirit  of  liberty  that  they  will  enlighten  the 
world."  Then  he  sank  back  on  his  pillow 
and  was  no  more.  It  is  not  in  the  letter  of 
this  message  but  the  spirit  of  it  that  one  will 
find  the  final,  full  liberty  promised  by  God 
in  Jesus  to  men  everywhere.  The  letter 
ever  killeth,  just  as  the  Spirit  ever  giveth 
light  and  life.  One  is  to  believe  this  is  the 
one  clear  call  of  heaven  to  all, — the  call  not 
to  the  wild  but  to  the  glorious  race  vision 

256 


The  Summary  of  "God's  Perfect  Whole" 

that  a  life  without  sin,  and  without  sickness, 
and  power  over  all  death  is  the  one  great 
thing  toward  which  the  whole  creation 
moves  and  is  a  possibility  that  is  now  ours. 
These  are  the  plans  made  clear  to  us  by  the 
Great  Architect.  As  thou  wilt  believe  that 
he  will  build  for  thee  this  more  stately 
mansion,  O  my  soul,  thou  shalt  see  him 
within  thee  day  by  day  working  out  this 
glorious  shrine  of  heaven.  The  very  tap- 
root of  all  thy  sin  will  have  been  pulled  out 
of  thy  soul.  Thou  wilt  just  defy  sin,  and 
grow  into  Christ's  perfect  righteousness. 
Thou  wilt  be  set  free  from  worry  and  care 
and  will  day  by  day  work  out  thy  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling,  realizing  that  God 
is  within  thee  working  to  will  and  to  do  of 
this,  his  good  pleasure.  Some  day  he  will 
have  put  on  the  corner  stone,  and  the  house 
of  the  Lord  will  be  dedicated.  It  will  be 
filled  with  the  fire  that  comes  down  from 
heaven.  The  song  of  thy  life  will  have  been 
changed  from  "all  of  self  and  none  of  Thee," 
to  "none  of  self  and  all  of  Thee."  Then  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  will  fill  the  house  not  made 
with  hands,  but  made  by  the  power  of  the 
Eternal  Spirit  like  unto  the  temple  of  the 
Christ,  that  abideth  forever. 

257 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

All  this  is  the  simple,  sublime  summary 
of  "God's  Perfect  Whole."  It  is  the  great 
correlary  of  creation,  which  enables  us  to 
lovingly  correlate  all  things,  and  sing  the 
great  Coronation,  in  which  "We  crown  Him 
Lord  of  All." 

In  the  experimental  light  of  this  great 
truth  we  all  will  see  for  the  first  time  clearly 
how  the  intellectual  and  the  intuitional  in 
our  make-up  are  most  truly  one.  The  intel- 
lectual, as  the  face  of  the  world  reveals  it, 
means  "seeing  one's  end."  In  the  deathless 
truth  of  the  triumphant  life  of  Jesus  over 
sin,  disease  and  death,  we  see  our  truest 
end.  With  our  own  mind-eyes  we  behold 
our  destined  purpose  as  designed  of  God. 
Jesus  was  the  concrete  putting  of  it,  so 
clearly  that  all  might  fully  comprehend  God's 
perfect  plan. 

But  we  also  see  in  him,  how  the  intui- 
tional has  the  fullest  sweep  and  sway.  Jesus 
felt  that  back  of  all  his  life  there  was  the 
Eternal  Spirit's  guidance,  that  he  could  not 
and  would  not  for  a  moment  resist,  grieve 
or  destroy.  It  always  had  the  right  of  way. 
Where  it  led  he  would  follow,  "he  would 
follow  all  the  way."  This  made  him  the 
first  true  Quaker  and  the  best  Quaker  that 

258 


The  Summary  of  "God's  Perfect  Whole" 

ever  lived.  Only  as  the  Spirit  moved  him 
would  he  move.  He  spoke  only  as  the 
Spirit  led.  Often  he  did  not  know  where  it 
would  guide  him  the  next  moment.  Once 
he  was  urged  by  his  disciples  to  go  with 
them  up  to  Jerusalem.  His  only  answer 
was  "Go  ye  up.  I  go  not  up,  for  mine  hour 
is  not  yet  come."  Their  time  was  always 
ready,  for  they  followed  only  their  own 
sweet  will.  But  he  who  was  led  wholly  of 
the  Spirit  had  no  voice  from  within  telling 
whither  he  should  go  next  for  fulfilling 
best  the  great  work  God  had  given  him  to 
do.  But  his  disciples  had  scarcely  left  him, 
till  the  Spirit  must  have  moved  him  to  see 
that  "now  must  the  Son  of  Man  be  glorified," 
by  his  great  death-deliverance.  So  at  once 
he  followed  them  up  to  Jerusalem  to  be 
crucified  through  the  sin-blindness  of  men 
that  he  might  open  the  eyes  of  all  "people 
that  on  earth  do  dwell"  to  the  sinless,  sick- 
less  and  deathless  life  he  was  so  soon  to 
fully  and  forever  reveal. 

One  who  abandons  himself  to  the  intui- 
tional may  always  rest  assured  it  can  lead 
him  nowhere  save  where  it  led  the  Lord  of 
Glory.  It  will  show  him  more  clearly  the 
great  end  of  his  life  from  the  beginning  as 

259 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

the  Father  by  his  indwelling  spirit  is  un- 
folding it  in  the  beauty  of  holiness.  Noth- 
ing can  then  separate  us  from  the  blessed 
realization  of  this  divine  all-loving  purpose 
of  the  giver  of  life  with  all  of  its  fullness, 
as  revealed  in  Christ  Jesus,  the  universal 
Lord  of  all.  One  can  always  say  in  con- 
fidence, "He  leadeth  me,  0  blessed  thought." 
He  can  always  most  joyously  sing,  "Where 
he  leads  me  1  will  follow,  I  will  follow  all 
the  way."  When  we  come  to  the  moment, 
in  treading  this  upward  way,  that  we  do  not 
know  "what  in  the  world  to  do  next,"  we 
can  always  "stand  still  and  see  the  glory  of 
the  Lord."  In  quietness  and  confidence  we 
will  always  find  the  divine  strength  made 
manifest.  For  is  not  the  Eternal  ever 
saying  to  us,  "Be  still  and  know  that  I  am 
God"? 

"The  gospel  of  non-resistence"  we  will 
thus  know,  in  our  heart  of  hearts,  is  the  only 
true  gospel  of  Jesus,  which  he  marvelously 
proclaimed  by  precept  and  more  marvelously 
showed  by  practice.  "The  Lord  rebuke 
thee,"  one  will  know  is  the  weapon  of  heaven 
indeed.  By  it  we  will  slay  every  foe  we 
will  ever  face,  and  turn  our  enemies  into 
friends  of  God  and  loving  brothers  of  Jesus. 

260 


The  Summary  of  "God's  Perfect  Whole" 

In  the  light  of  all  this  truth  of  God  within 
us  working  out  this  glorious,  triumphant 
race-destiny,  we  will  also  come  to  see  the 
great  thought  of  God's  Immanence,  and 
God's  Transcendence  are  but  hemispheres 
of  the  perfect  sphere  of  life  in  which  we 
live  and  move  and  have  our  most  perfect 
being.  It  steers  one  most  safely  past  the 
great  Scylla  of  mystical  Pantheism  on  the 
one  hand;  and  the  Charybdis  of  Carlyle's 
"great  God  outside  of  the  universe,  winding 
it  up  and  seeing  it  go,"  on  the  other.  We 
feel  that  God,  by  his  indwelling  presence,  is 
indeed  "above  all,"  as  well  as  "through  all 
and  within  us  all."  This  life  finds  in  man 
the  fullest  expression  of  the  divine  Spirit  in 
awakening  in  us  the  great  filial  fullness  of 
our  life  in  God  as  exhibited  in  Jesus,  who 
felt  that  he  and  the  Father  were  one  in  their 
person,  power  and  purpose.  This  makes 
God  "nearer  than  breath  and  breathing, 
nearer  than  hands  and  feet."  Yet  he  is  the 
one  who  heareth  us  always  as  we  call  upon 
him  in  spirit  and  truth,  and  one  who  loveth 
us  more  than  with  a  mother's  love ;  and  is  one 
we  can  talk  with  as  friend  and  father,  face 
to  face. 

The  late  Dr.  Clarke,  who  gave  us  the 
greatest  work  on  Systematic  Theology  of  our 

261 


The  Sinless,  Sickless,  Deathless  Life 

generation,  concludes  all  he  has  to  say  in 
these  words:  "When  we  shall  discover  the 
real  keythought  that  will  let  us  into  the 
fullness  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  Christ 
came  to  reveal,  we  will  be  surprised  at 
nothing  so  much  as  the  utmost  simplicity  of 
it."  What  can  this  key  to  the  kingdom  be 
but  that  the  sinless,  sickless  and  deathless 
life  is  the  loving  design  and  desire  of  God 
for  all.  Nothing  is  so  surprising  as  its 
utter  simplicity;  and  that  faith  is  the  only 
faculty  needed  to  make  this  full  free  gift 
of  the  Eternal  Life  of  the  Spirit  forever  ours. 
If  this  great  truth  could  voice  itself  in 
words,  telling  how  it  is  struggling  in  every 
heart  to  take  full  possession  of  the  soul,  to 
reveal  to  us  the  whole  will  and  love  of  God, 
it  could  perhaps  find  no  better  or  more 
burning  words  to  tell  its  heavenly  yearning, 
than  these  uttered  recently  by  one  of  our 
greatest  seers: 

"Alone  I  climb  the  steep  ascending  path, 

Which  leads  to  knowledge.     In  the  babbling  throng 

That  hurry  after,  shouting  to  the  world 

Small   fragments  of  large   truth,   there   is   not  one 

Who  comprehends  my  purpose,  or  who  sees 

The  ultimate  great  goal.      Why  even  she, 

My  heaven  intended  spouse,  my  other  self. 

Religion,  turns  her  beauteous  face  on  me 

262 


The  Summary  of  "God's  Perfect  Whole" 

With  hatred  in  her  eyes,  where  love  should  dwell, 
While  others,  who  call  me  Master,  blindly  run, 
Wounding  the  ear  of  Faith  with  blasphemies, 
And  making  useless  slaughter  in  my  name. 

Mine  is  the  difficult  task  to  blaze 

A  road  to  Facts,  through  labyrinths  of  dreams. 

To  tear  down  Maybe  and  establish  IS, 

And  substitute  "I  Know"  for  "I  Believe." 

I  follow  closely  where  the  seers  have  led; 

And  that  intangible  dim  path  of  theirs, 

Which  may  be  trodden  but  by  other  seers, 

I  seek  to  render  solid  for  the  feet 

Of  all  mankind.      With  reverent  hands  I  lift 

The  mask  from  Mystery,  and  show  the  face 

Of  Reason  smiling,  smiling  bravely  on  the  world. 

The  visions  of  the  prophets,  one  by  one. 

Grow  visible  beneath  my  tireless  touch; 

And  the  white  secrets  of  the  prophets'  stars, 

I  tell  aloud  to  listening  multitudes. 

Mine  is  the  work  to  fashion  step  by  step 

The  shining  way  that  leads  from  man  to  God. 

Though  I  demolish  obstacles  of  creeds. 

And  blast  tradition  from  the  face  of  earth, 

My  hand  shall  open  wide  the  door  of  Truth, 

Whose  other  name  is  Faith;    and  at  the  end 

Of  this  most  holy  labor,  I  shall  turn 

To  see  Religion  with  enlightened  eyes 

Seeking  the  welcome  of  my  outstretched  arms. 

While  all  the  world  stands  hushed  and  awed  before 

The  proven  splendor  of  the  Fact  Supreme!" 

The  sinless,  sickless,  deathless  life  of  Christ, 

Is  God's  free  gift  for  each  and  all. 

The  glory-goal  of  God  for  all  the  world. 

263 


i                            •                            1 

DATE  DUE 

1 1   M      ^J^ 

.Mflt^^"' 

""^^U^n^f^ 

^TOd 

■'     J4*»^ 

^^6^7 

^,^,,,«.s*«^ 

I"***-- 

#*rTT> 

WQ 

M  liM  1  THnki 

II  li'l/^ 

<JUNl^ 

J82P 

-''■'^ 

PW 

\ 

.««■ 

t> 

CAYLORO 

PRINTKO  INU.S.A. 

Princeton  Theological   Seminary   Libraries 


1    1012  01195  4502 


